Running Far
by Xihlkage
Summary: Max ran, now she's getting married... but not to the man she wants to. ML eventually but you didnt hear it from me cause i dont wanna ruin the story. OMG squared... chapter 20 up... finally
1. The Proposal

Disclaimer: Not mine, wish it were but it's not.

Running Far

"Will you marry me?" Max stared at the man. They had been dating for three years and he was proposing. She thought of Logan. He hadn't proposed after, what was it, two years and her heart broke just thinking about it. That was why she left wasn't it? She had never thought of herself as the marring type, hell, she didn't even want to get married until she had fallen for Logan. She stared in disbelief at the man who was not Logan, kneeling before her doing the one thing Logan never did. She didn't know what to do.

"I…" she stammered. She cursed herself for her weakness.

"Please say yes…" he said. He sounded so full of hope but she knew he was so full of shit. She did not love this man. He had been her rebound, not that he knew of course. She thought of Logan and her heart hurt so much. She did not know what to do but she wanted the pain to end.

"Okay," the words were out and there was no going beck. She did not love this man but maybe, she thought, just maybe, she would learn to maybe she could be happy with him, just maybe. She knew she was just trying to convince herself but she had too, she had seen him cheat on her with four different women (May, June, July, and August) and she briefly thought of running, just as she had then but she couldn't. She wanted to see this one through. She had promised herself that she would go straight and Logan would have been proud.

He was ecstatic and she was surprised. He pulled out a giant ring and slipped it on to her ring finger. It. Was. Gorgeous. Max gasped at the size and weight and momentarily thought _'I could fence this for at least 100,000 dollars on the Black Market, if not more, no, bad Max'_. Why, oh why couldn't it be Logan slipping that ring on to her finger. She hadn't even realized he had been talking.

"… and then we could have the honeymoon in the Bahamas," Oh gods, he was planning the wedding already, she groaned inwardly but pretended to listen until the craziest thought occurred to her.

"Lets have the wedding soon" she blurted.

"Soon? Has in how soon?"

"As soon as possible. How long will it take you to prepare the wedding?"

"Another 6 months?"

"Sooner."

"3 months?" He was trying so hard to please her and she had no idea what she was doing.

"Sooner? For me."

"at least give me two months…"

"Okay, two months" _oh shit, what am I getting myself into._ She was in way over her head but then again, he could protect her. Not from any physical danger, she could handle that. No, from her emotions, she needed him to protect her from her emotions.

She had gotten away from Seattle and New York was as good a place as any to get away, far away. It was all the way on the other side of the country and it was crowded and it was crowded, and easy to disappear in. She stared out the window at the bright city lights.

He hurried off to do… whatever, she didn't care much. As soon as he left she picked up the phone and hesitated. The she dialed Alec's number, he answered on the 3rd ring and she could sense someone was there.

"Hello?" came his gruff voice.

"Hey Alec, it's me," she answered.

"Oh, hey, Chip…" he replied casually.

"He's there isn't he?"

"Yea, I'm a little busy but I can talk for a sec."

"How… how is he?"

"It's going good, there's still a slight ruff-patch in the system but its being looked into."

"And Cindy?"

"Yea that's good."

"Listen, can you call me back when he leaves?"

"Sure, I'll get back to you on those paintings as soon as I'm free."

"Thanks Alec."

"No problem."

She hung up the phone and wiped the tear off her face. After she left, Alec had hunted, she still didn't know how but he had become her link to Seattle and he had given her his word not to tell Logan. O.C. was the only other person who knew where she was… or why she had left. The door of the study opened and a small figure ran into the room and yelled: "MOMMY!"

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	2. Logan's Dilemma

_A/N: Okay, just to clarify: This is season 2 but I didn't like the whole virus thing so that's not in it (what can I say, I'm picky) and its kinda AU cause White isn't apart of this little story thingie (He's still around just not in the story... yet I dont know, we shall see)_

_Disclamer: still don't own it…_

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Logan Cale sat at his computer, his fingers were flying over the key board with dozen's of different screens popping up onto the computer. He saw the word 'Max' flash on the screen in front of him and he froze. He started reading:

"10 year old Max Shaffer won an…"

He stopped, another false alarm. He sighed and went back to dancing over his keyboard. An hour later the phone rang but Logan ignored it and whoever it was hung up. Five minutes later it rung again and Logan answered.

"Hey man, you find anything on out girl?" asked Alec by way of introduction.

"No," replied Logan, he was irritated by Alec's 'our' comment but he masked his annoyance. "Nothings coming up on my searches and there's still nothing coming up in all the programs I have searching."

"Okay, well I'm gonna need to see you about something."

"What is it?"

"Just something I need you to take a look at something; you'll see when you get here."

"Fine, I'll be there in about half an hour." He didn't want to go but Quid Pro Quo and Alec had helped him take down that Drug Lord last week. He walked over to the exo-skeleton, debating on whether or not he should wear it, in the end he decided to put it on after all. After Joshua had transfused him, he had managed to take the right meds and he was able to keep his legs moving. Now he was just using the exo to make him stronger, faster. He grabbed his keys and headed out to his car.

As he reached Alec's place, he thought of Max. He needed to find her and Alec's constant interruptions were forcing him to place his searches aside. He knocked on the door just as he heard the phone ring from the inside. Alec answered the phone and the door at the same time.

"Hello?" he said into the phone as he waved Logan inside. There was a pause and Logan could hear a female voice say something but it was muffled and unrecognizable. "Oh, hey, Chip…" he casually replied and Logan's ears perked up. That wasn't a man on the phone but Alec had turned and started toward the kitchen holding up his index finger to Logan. "Yea, I'm a little busy but I can talk for a sec." Pause. "It's going good, there's still a slight ruff-patch in the system but its being looked into." Pause. "Yea that's good." Another pause and Logan spied a phone lying on the couch… he moved toward it an picked it up. He knew he shouldn't but something was up, he could just feel it. "Sure, I'll get back to you on those paintings as soon as I'm free." Logan clicked to phone on and listened just in time to hear Alec say "No problem." Logan hung up the phone and threw it back on the couch just as Alec walked in.

"Sorry 'bout that man. That was just a guy I work with" Said Alec as he walked out of the kitchen. He spotted the other phone, which was obviously out of it's place on the couch. He walked over to it and picked it up, set it on the coffee table, and plopped down on the couch were it had been.

"So what's this thing you wanted to show me?"

"What?"

"The thing I came all the way down from sector 7 for… what is it?"

"Oh that, I got I covered, it's all good."

Logan just stared at the man in front of him as if he had just said he was working for White's cult loonies or something. "So I came over here for nothing?"

"Seems like… unless you want to stay for a bite. I don't have any food but Max tells me you're a great cook." Logan cause the slip as Alec had just after he said it but Alec masked his shock.

"You mean told." Logan watched the man carefully.

"Right, my bad."

"Fine, you don't need my help, I'll just go home." And with that Logan walked towards the door, opened it and walked out. He heard Alec call "later" and then heard the faint comment of "Hey it's me. Yea, he's gone." Logan was going to figure out what the hell was going on. He did not like being played for a fool and Alec is not the kind of person so slip up on something like that. But where to start? He could tap into the phone records but Alec had been using his cell so it was probably scrambled.

He was so rapped up in what he was going to do; he didn't even notice he was in the parking garage of his building. He got out of the car and walked to the elevators, he could already tell this was going to be a long night.

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The door of the study opened and a small figure ran into the room and yelled: "MOMMY!" Max turned to see Jason, her 5 year old son, run into the room. Jason ran up to his mother and clumily hoisted himself on to her lap. There was a small action figure in his hand and he started to play with is as he sat there.

"What have you been up to?" Max asked her son as she watched him play around with is doll.

"Nothin'. Mommy, I'm bored." he replied in matter-of-fact voice.

"You are?" he nodded. "Well, go do a puzzle or play outside."

"I want you to tell me the story."

"Your bedtime story?" Jason nodded enthusiastically. "Again?!" He nodded again. "Well, okay. Once upon a time there live a younge girl who lived in a large castle in the middle of a big forest with all her brothers and sisters..."

"Tell me their names" He had a huge grin plastered on his face.

"You've heard this story how many time, how 'bout you tell me."

"Okay, there was... Tinga and Zack... Ben, Seth... Jace, Jondy... and Max..." He looked up at the cell in Max's hand just before it rang and Max looked at her son. Taking the hint he sat there quietly while she answered the phone.

"Go for M... Kyra."

"Hey Maxie, it's just me."


	3. The Necklace

_A/N: Hey, thanks for sticking with me, sry bout all the spelling and grammar mistakes, bear with me, i don't have a beta and i tend to get a little lazy when it comes to rereading my shtuff. thanks for being so patient._

_Disclaimer:... still not mine..._

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Max cupped her hand over the mouth piece and looked at Jason, "Hey Jase, why don't you go play in your room for a while, k?" He nodded and took off out the room. When she was sure he was gone she turned her attention back to the caller on the other end. "Hey, Alec, is he gone?" she asked.

"Yea, he's gone, what's up?"

Pause. "I'm getting married." she stated plainly

"He proposed... already?"

"Alec, it's been three years."

"But, why?"

"'Why' what?"

"Why are you getting married? Why did you say yes?"

"I... don't... Why do you care? Listen, I was just calling to tell you that I'm getting married and I wanted to know if you wanted to come, but I can see that you don't so I will let you get on with your miserable little life."

"Hey, I didn't say I didn't want to come-"

"Because I didn't get a chance to ask-"

"- I was just wondering why. I mean, you don't love this guy-"

"Like hell I don't, what do you know?"

"I know you love Logan-"

"Don't bring him into this-" She found herself fingering the golden locket hanging around her neck.

"He's in this whether you want him in it or not." She stared at the locket remembering when she got it.

_Flashback_

_"Logan, we gotta talk." Max stated nervously as she walked into the room. He was on his computer, as usual, but he stopped and looked at her, giving her his full attention._

_"What's up?" His voice was full of concern._

_"I'm pregnant."_

_"You're... you're what?" He had a blank look on his face and she was starting to get worried._

_"I am currently with a child. There is life growing in my stomach." She said with a calm she didn't feel._

_"You... you're... pregnant?" she nodded, her fear rising. She opened her mouth to tell him it was okay, she could get rid of it, it was going to be okay but he beat her to it. "We're going to have a baby?" He started smiling. "We're going to have a baby!" He got up and pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. He then moved his hands to her stomach placing both on her abdomen._

_"So, your okay with this?"_

_He gave her a huge, toothy grin and hugged her tighter. "Of course I'm alright with this, wait..." He let her go and moved away._

_"Wait? Wait for what, Logan, what are you doing?" She followed him out of the office and into the bedroom. He went to his nightstand and opened a drawer while she stood at the doorway. He pulled something out of it but kept it hidden behind his back. He walked up to her and planted a kiss on her forehead and then her lips. _

_"I love you, you know that, right? Close your eyes," she looked at him. "Close them." She covered her eyes with her hands and waited. She felt him slip something around her neck and she opened her eyes and looked down. Resting against her collarbone was a golden locket._

_"But... this is your mother's locket, Logan..."_

_"Now it's your locket, besides, I'm not going to wear it" he said with a cheeky grin and kissed her again. "I'll love you forever." he muttered softly, she wouldn't have been able to hear it without her enhanced hearing._

_End Flashback_

She hadn't taken the necklace off since. "Damnit Alec, I don't want to do this right now-" She stopped. The door knob started to turn "I gotta go... we'll send you an invitation. Oh, and, not tell Original Cindy until I do, okay?"

"You think I would do that to you Maxie?" The door opened and Darien, her boyfriend, _no, fiancée_, walked into the room and paused at seeing her on the phone. She held up a finger to him and went on with trying to end her conversation.

"Yes, I think you would-"

"Max-"

"I'm hanging up now, later," without waiting for a reply she hung up the phone and turned to Darien. "Hey, what's up?"

"Well, I thought we could start planning the wedding together."

"Together?"

"Well, yea, I mean, it's our wedding, and I just thought that, you know, you'd like to help." He stammered uncertainty.

She realized what she had done and replied, "No, I just meant, it's so soon. You just asked me today. Couldn't we start on it, tomorrow... um, together?"

"Yea, tomorrow, sure. But, um, you didn't give a lot of time for, well, the planning and everything-"

"I know, I'm sorry, but, you see, I'm really tired and it's kinda late so I should go tuck in Jason" She got up and started walking out of the room again playing with the necklace. She couldn't help but remember what Alec had said. There was some part of her that had to love him, right. She had to love this man. No, he had to be wrong, besides, what did he know about her feelings anyways.

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_A/N: Review are nice ;D and thanks to those who do... i thank those who just read the story to, i dont mind that either :D_


	4. Dreams

_Disclaimer: you know i think you get the idea that if this were mine i would probably be all rich and famous but seeing how im all broke and stuff, its still not mine_

_Also thank you to everyone who reviewed, it is greatly apprectiated._

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_One Month later _

"Okay, so we could put your Aunt Georgia at table seven with whats-his-face, that guy from the Christmas party who told those weird stories." Max said as she wrote down the name on the piece of paper in front of her.

"What, with Jonathan? We don't want to torture the poor woman, do we?" asked Darien with a slight grin playing on his features. Max studied him as he went through the wedding invites. He was tall, about as tall as Logan, standing at 6 foot 2, with black hair and brown eyes. He was in his late 20's and he had money. Lots of money that he, as Logan had, inherited from his parents. She went down to the paper in front of her.

"Well where else do you want to put her, there isn't much space left."

Darien waved his hands around. "What about next to that guy, what's his name, Sketchy?"

"I thought you didn't want to torture the poor lady?" she asked with a smile.

"Well, what's wrong with you friend, I mean from the stories you've told me, he has a certain allure about him."

"Trust me, we don't want her sitting next to him. From what you've said, they would not get along. He's a stoner and she's a stone cold... anti-stoner... what ever, she can deal with John and his stories. Now how about your sister, she might fit nicely at table two with your parents and your friend Tim."

Darien looked up from the invites again and turned towards Max. "What about your friend Logan?"

She froze. "What?"

He turned back to what he was doing, oblivious to the battle raging inside of Max. " Logan, where are you going to fit him?"

"Oh, Logan's not coming." she stated plainly. "Now if we move Crissy from table four to table-"

"Well why not, I thought you guys were really close."

"We were, then... something happened and we're not now. Listen lets just drop it, k?" She was trying to change the subject, gods couldn't he see that?! She looked at the paper and pulled off a random name, was that his aunt or cousin? She was sure it was his cousin, "I still have no idea where we're going to fit in your cousin Amy..."

* * *

"Hey Darien? Can you watch Jason for a while?" Asked Max as she walked confidently into the office, her son close at her heels.

"Why? Can't he just go with you?" Darien scowled. _As soon as we're married that little brat's off to boarding school. Why can't the father, whoever he is, take care of the stupid kid? It's not my problem. _

"I gotta go out somewhere and he doesn't want to go." She said, annoyed, ignorant to his thoughts.

"Are you going to a strip joint?"

"No."

"Then why can't he go, I mean, he loves hanging out with you-"

She sighed inwardly " Darien, he is going to be your son in a few weeks, the least you could do is spend some time with him. It won't kill you."

She left the room and Darien gave the kid a nasty glare. "You just sit down and don't say a word, you hear me?" Jason nodded, he wasn't looking forward to this either. If he had known, he decided, he would have rather gone with his mother than put up with his man. He was bright for a 5-year-old, and dangerous in Darien's eyes. If that kid spoke one word against Darien to his mother, the wedding would be off. "So, do you, um, want to, I don't know, play a game or something?" asked Darien with great difficulty.

"No. Can I do one of the puzzles on the floor?"

"I don't have any kiddy puzzles, go read a book." Darien went back to his work while Jason, intrigue, stared at the wondrous bookshelf in the office in the end deciding on Moby Dick.

* * *

By the time Max got home three hours later, Jason was already half way through his book. She walked into the office and kissed her son on the head. "Whatcha readin' there little man?"

"Moby Dick." Darien huffed, like the kid could do that.

"Yea, is it any good?"

"It's alright once you get into it but the beginning is slow. And I don't understand why the caption guy is so obsessed with that whale... it doesn't seem healthy."

Max laughed, "No it doesn't does it?" She turned to Darien. "Was he good?"

"Yea, sure." he replied distractedly.

Max turned to her son and gestured that they should go. He closed the book and placed it where he had found it on the book shelf and followed his mother out. As soon as they were out, Max turned and picked her son up, placed him on her hip and continued down the hall. It was elegant with tapestries here and there, it all just reminded her of a castle... like the castle from her stories...

She tucked in Jason, after telling him the story of course. She felt tired and glanced at the clock, it was only 10:30 but she was still so very tired. It was weird, foreign to her almost, but she knew what she was and she was tired. She sat on her bed and lay down to sleep. But she didn't want to sleep, she didn't want to dream. But she hadn't slept in, what, seven days, eight, she couldn't remember. She thought of getting up to get coffee but was asleep before she got to reach over to get up. She dreamed about when Zack had come back...

_Flashback _

_Zack had come back but she was confused at why. Why he was there, what he remembered, was he going to try to kill Logan again. She had found him before he could get to Logan and cornered him in an abandoned warehouse. _

_"Max, he can't be trusted." _

_"No, Zack, they did something to you back at Manticore." _

_"Why won't you believe me?!" he yelled "Whose idea was it to send me away?!" _

_"Me! I sent you away." she yelled back. "It was my idea. I watched you leave at the hospital because it was my decision" her voice softened. "I couldn't deal with losing Logan so he helped me find a place for you to have a normal life... away from me and Logan and Manticore... I'm sorry Zack, I really am but I just couldn't do that to you again. I couldn't risk Logan's life again." _

_"Yea? Then why are you still with him? Every moment you spend with him puts you and him in danger. Someday your gonna get him killed, without my help. You kill everything you touch, don't you?! It's only a matter of time before he's killed." He whispered. He was trying to hurt her and it was working, she could feel the tear fall but she couldn't do anything to stop it and she didn't want to give him that satisfaction. All of a sudden the memory of Ben burst into her mind, and then Tinga, Seth, Brin, and finally Zack, dead on an operating table over her body. She felt a serge of pain and then anger. The fire burst in her and she wanted to hurt him. She wanted to punch him, to hit him, to make him feel what she did in any way possible. _

_"I'm pregnant." She watched has he looked confused for a second and she could just see it dawn on him. "It's his. He loves me and he wouldn't do any of those things that you said, that why I'm stay-" The gunshot was deafening and everything turned red. There was so much blood everywhere. She thought of Logan and the baby and the life they should share together. _

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_A/N: TBC evil grin_


	5. Discoveries

_Disclaimer: I keep tellin' you it's not mine... _

_A/N: Okay, so I'm starting off with finishing Max's dream so enjoy. _

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_(Previously: _

_"You kill everything you touch, don't you?!" _

_"I'm pregnant." _

_The gunshot was deafening and everything turned red. There was so much blood everywhere. She thought of Logan and the baby and the life they should share together.) _

_There was so much blood, but, Max realized, it's wasn't hers. She looked up at Zach, horrified. Their eyes met and she could see the pain but there was something else there that she just couldn't place. Was it love? Regret? He fell into her arms and she went down with him, easing him to the ground. She heard a very faint "You missed the girl, you moron." The bullet was for her, not for Zach. He was just collateral damage, she killed him. Again she thought of everyone who had died. Finally resting on Joshua. She had died inside when she found his prone body, lying there, shot in the back by none other than Ames-fucking-White, because he had tried to get to Max. He was right; she did kill everybody she loved. She watched him and opened his mouth but the only thing that came out of his mouth was blood. It started to run down the side of his mouth and Max wiped it away with her sleeve but it didn't help much with all his blood that covered her. She kept her hand pressed against his wound but it did no good. "I'm sorry," she whispered and he died just as the men who shot him came closer. I was then that she realized she had been crying. She had gotten her brother killed. Everything was a blur after that. She didn't remember or even care if she had killed then. She just didn't care. _

_There was blood everywhere and her stomach hurt so badly. She looked down and realized that there was blood between her legs. Her heart stopped. She didn't know if it was her or Zach's but the pain in her belly caused her to fear for the worst. She just sat next to Zach's body and cried, for him, for her, for her baby, for Logan. _

_When she got back she changed but not before spending an hour in the shower, scrubbing. She just couldn't feel clean enough and she didn't realize she had been scrubbing herself raw. She changed and started packing her bags. She didn't know where she was going to go but she needed out. Logan was out doing some 'Eye's Only' thing for the fuzzy wazzies or what-not and he wouldn't be back for a while. She was just going out for a drive, it should have only lasted a few days, a week tops. It ended up lasting three years till she realized she wasn't going to go back. She couldn't go back. _

_End Flashback _

Max woke to the front door closing softly. She glanced at the clock, 3 A.M. He was early, he usually spent the night over at what ever new girls house he was staying at and came back around 5. Max groaned, she felt as if she had over slept, which she did given she had 5 hours of sleep. She climbed out of bed and stretched while walking down the stairs. She ran into Darien and passed. He had guilt written all over him when he saw her. She resented him but then again, she's always stayed and she really didn't know why.

"How did it go?" she asked feigning innocence.

"How did what go?" he was wide-eyed and shifting for left to right foot.

"With what ever you were doing. I'm assuming it went well 'cause you got him before the crack of dawn." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. The girl must have talked to much or he wouldn't be back so early. She wondered who it was and if she knew the poor girl who probably just got her heart broken by this woman-chaser. Max kept telling herself that he would stop when they were married. That these were just flings because she wouldn't let him touch her unless she was in Heat, not that he knew of course. She watched him search for an excuse.

"Something... came up at work. There was an emergency with one of the servers." He said quickly, it was almost practiced.

"Whatev, I'm getting some food, you want some?" She shimmied past him and finished down the stairs.

"No, I'm good, I'm just going to head off to bed. I'm beat." He sounded relieved, thinking she had bought his story.

"I bet." she muttered bitterly under her voice.

"What."

"Good night" she said with a fake sweetness. He didn't notice.

* * *

Two Weeks to go

Logan walked into Alec's apartment. He felt bad for trespassing but Alec had been acting weird lately and Logan had a feeling he new more than he was letting on. Logan searched the kitchen, the living room and the office but there was nothing. He started to leave when he spotted some pages next to the phone. Ruffling through them he found some bills, some spare cash, and a wedding invitation for some couple, Kyra and Darien, but nothing of importance. He'd been looking for an hour but he found nothing. Finally, giving up, Logan left knowing that Alec could be back any minute.

Logan went home and as he walked through the door the phone rang. "Hello?" he said as he placed the phone between his ear and his shoulder.

"Hey Boo. Come meet up at Crash and hang for a while. I know you could you the night out." It was Original Cindy. Logan paused as he reached down to unbutton his pants and take his exo off. He didn't really want to but then he did. He could use the pick-me-up.

"Um... sure, why not. I'll meet you there in 15."

"Please, don't sound so excited." she had a smile in her voice. "We'll see you there." The line went dead and Logan hung up the phone. He threw a Hot Pocket into the microwave and for some reason decided to look up that wedding. It must be another transgenic. He finally found a link to a picture but the internet was so slow today. Before it loaded even a forth of the way the microwave beeped and he could smell it burning. Glancing at the clock, he grabbed his coat, his Hot Pocket, his keys and walked out of the door, not giving the photo loading no his computer a second thought.

* * *

Max concentrated on her paper, blocking all noise out. It was a finely tuned skill that had been hammered into her head during her time at Manticore. She was semi-grateful of it because it did tend to come in handy, especially at work. Working at a newspaper wasn't the quietest or the easiest job but she was a fast learner and within a week she had become a popular asset to the paper and around the office. She actually loved her work but she still missed Jam Pony, how weird is that? 

She glanced at the clock. Two more hours and she would get to see her little, miracle boy. Max had been so relived when she realized that she hadn't lost her baby when Zach died, she didn't think of how it would affect Logan, she had been selfish. She had always figured she would go back, she would go home but she didn't. And she didn't want to lose Jason, she couldn't, not after Zach. She looked up from her desk and spotted Ashley walking up to her, she groaned. Gods how she hated that girl. She was beautiful with her wavy blonde hair but that's all the girl had goin' for her. She was as dumb as a stool, with a lower IQ than one. She had this distinct aura around her that said 'ditz'. It bugged Max like none other and just as Ashley opened her mouth to say something the phone rang and she quickly grabbed it. "Kyra Summers."

"Hey Maxie." She rolled her eyes and placed her had over the mouth piece.

"This is important, can we talk later?" she asked Ashley sweetly.

"Oh, uh, yea, I guess, I just wanted-" Ashley looked a little more bewildered than normal but Max didn't care, anything to get rid of the girl.

"Hi, sweetie. Are you with Ja-" Max stopped when she was sure Ashley was out of sight. She sighed, "Alec, what do you want now?"

"So, I'm important, huh?" he was ignoring the question and he had a cheeky grin in his voice. She rolled her eyes again.

"What do you want Alec?" she repeated the question, her voice a little more aggitated.

"What, I can't talk to my favorite girl?"

"Favorite girl... wait, what do you want?"

"Max, I'm hurt that you would think that. You just assume because I'm calling that I want something."

"Well, duh, why else would you be calling?" Max stopped, her editor had just walked up. "Hey, Alec, can I call you back, I gotta get back to work. My boss has gotta talk to me. Later."

"Yea, sure." Max hung up the phone and turned all her attention to boss.

* * *

Logan walked into his house around midnight, the joy and excitement waring off from his time with OC. It had been a while since he had acually had any kind of fun and he was actually grateful for the time. 

When he walked into his room and looked at the note that Max had left before she... left. He read it for the billionth time.

He walked into the kitchen, openned the frige a grabbed a water bottle. He turned and walked to his office, he was ruffling through his papers when he turned and spotted the picture on his computer. The water bottle fell out of his had has he stared at the monitor.

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TBC

_A/N: There you go, I hope you like it, I tried to make it a little longer than the others._


	6. Meetings Pt 1

_A/N: sorry it took so long to update, life happened and it took a while. I'm working on it XD._

_Disclaimer: Still not mine..._

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Two Days Later: New York 

Max walked into her house after work. She threw her jacket onto the coat rake next to the door and stomped her boots on the welcome mat. Snow dropped everywhere and she tugged her boots off. She had hated the snow ever since her escape from Manticore. She loathed it. Max shook her head and she felt a piece of snow slide down her back. Maybe she would be able to convince Darien to move them somewhere warm. She heard Florida was really nice. She mused about living in Florida as she walked down the hall to the library.

She walked into the library and stopped. She felt her blood run cold and she was struck speechless. Max couldn't suppress the look of surprise that crossed her face.

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The Previous Day 

Logan got off the plane and shivered. He hadn't been expecting the cold, but then again, he should have. It was winter after all and it snowed in New York during the winter but he had not been thinking about the weather, hell, he hadn't thought of anything other than getting to New York.

The wind was freezing when he stepped out of the airport. It took him forever to hail a cab but he finally managed to just before, he figured, he froze to dead. The cab was expensive but he had figured it would be. In the Post-Pulse world, some cabbies didn't get to work everyday because of the rarity and expense of gas. He'd been here when he was younger, before the pulse hit; it had been the last time he'd flown... He hated flying. He hated not being in control and he hated the feeling of the loss of control he gets when he flies. Max had made him feel out of control... but then, Max had made him feel out of control. It had always been in a good sorta way and he desperately wanted her back.

Logan just had a brief case and a small duffle bag. He hadn't bothered to pack much of anything so he would have to go shopping later. He figured he could do it tomorrow, before he went over to Max's. He looked out the window of the cab, the sun had been down for hours now. He had to repress the urge to go straight to Max. She didn't sleep so it wouldn't bother her but it might bother her... fiancé. _'Is she happy with him? Should I even be here or should I let her be? No.'_ No, Logan was not going to roll over and let this be. He had to fight for her.

He arrived at the hotel and cringed at the price of the cab. The room he got was nice for a Post-Pulse one. Hell, it was pretty nice for a Pre-Pulse room as well. He plopped on the bed. It was comfortable. He finally opened the brief case. Inside was a bunch of papers, his passport, birth certificate, that sort of thing. Resting on top of the papers was a single notebook type paper all crumpled and worn, laying on the top. He picked it up.

**Logan, Baby's gone, there was a fight. Zach's dead. I don't know when I'll be back, I'm sorry.**

That was it. No more, no phone call, no explanation, nothing. It was the last thing she had left him and he had kept it as if it were a cherished Love-Note. Bling had said Logan spent too much time staring at it and at first he had. It had almost never left his side. He just sat waiting for Max to return to him but days had turned to weeks. Weeks into months when finally Logan gave up hope that maybe his angel would return to him. He spent more time staring at the note and less time on Eye's Only until one day Logan had found Bling trying to throw it away but he hadn't. He had known how much it had meant to Logan. It was probably for the best, he had been wasting away just staring at the paper, no longer reading its contents. He couldn't just get rid of it though. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't do it. So he decided to look. He looked every free second he could, Eye's Only broadcasts became shorter and far in between but they still happened. He still needed a lifeline, something to keep him sane anyways.

Sometime during the night he managed to fall into an uneasy sleep in his hotel room. When Logan woke he was disorientated for a second until he realized where he was. He felt nervous for the first time in a long while. It was almost noon and he figured her to be at work. Frustrated, he left the hotel room to go shopping for some warmer cloths. It was fine because it passed the time until he went to see her. By 4 o'clock he had bought a large coat, a few pairs of pants and some warm sweaters. The butterflies in his stomach became heavier.

The cab ride to Max's was 20 minutes and it was the longest and shortest cab ride he ever been on. The cab reached a large beautiful house that looked as if the Pulse hadn't ever happened. The cabbie pulled the car up to a speaker next to the gate. "Can I help you?" came a loud crackling voice.

"Yea, I'm here for the wedding-"

"No press allowed." Logan glanced at the fare and grimaced. This was getting expensive.

He sighed. "I'm a friend of M-Kyra's. My name is Logan Cale, please-"

"One moment." Logan rolled his eyes. "Ms. Kyra is not in right now, come back lat-..." there was a pause. "Come on in." Logan sat there bewildered. The cab pulled up through the gate so Logan wasn't going to complain. He had gotten in and thats all that mattered... or maybe Max had told the man to let him in. Maybe Max wanted to see him again. He allowed a small portion oh hope to enter his mind. The cab pulled up to the large front oak doors and a familiar looking man walked down the stone steps in front of the door. He was the man from the picture, Darien, the man Max was going to marry. Logan resented the man instantly. He paid the cab driver the obscene amount of money and got out of the car.

"I'm sorry about Brandon. He tends to overreact, welcome to my home." Darien said, shaking Logan's hand.

"It's really no problem" '_it just happened to cost me half of my money_' Logan thought. He mentally shook himself. Here the guy was trying to be nice to him and Logan would just as soon bite his head off for something the man had no control over. Logan softened his tone. "Is Kyra home? I'd really like to talk to her."

"She isn't but she should be home soon. If you would like to wait for her in the study, she should be back any minute now. She's been working late so she can take the time off for the honeymoon." There was something in his voice. Was it triumph? Logan didn't know.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to properly introduce myself, I'm Logan Cale." Said Logan, looking for a subject change.

"Darien Weaver. I'll show you to the study, shall we?" The walked through the big wooden doors, Darien in front and Logan in tow. The inside of the house was even more amazing than the outside, so much so that Logan's breath caught in his throat. There was a large entryway that lead to a beautiful living room that was so finely decorated it was almost as if it came out of a fairy tale. Maybe that was why Max stayed with him, because she wanted her own fairy tale life. Darien lead him down a large hallway to some more large oak doors, these, however, were not as large at the front doors. Logan couldn't help but think that Darien was compensating for something with all of these large doors and the large house.

"It's beautiful. Your whole house is." Logan said, actually meaning it. Darien gestured for him to sit in one of the comfortable looking armchairs. Logan sat, as did Darien, and they talked. They talked about nothing in particular. About what Darien did and about what Logan did. They talked about anything and everything other than the wedding or Max/Kyra. Just as they were in the middle of a frightfully boring talk about the weather, the door opened and both men stood. Logan couldn't help but think, '_Her picture doesn't do her justice._'

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_A/N: Okay again I say, sorry it took so long, I suffered from a severe case of writers block. I finally got this out. I don't really like where it ended but I was just to restless that I just had to get this chapter out there (I was losing sleep cause of it XD), so I hope you enjoyed it and thx for sticking with me. I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner._


	7. Meeting Pt 2

_Disclaimer: You know the drill...

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Max walked into the study and was struck speechless. Standing in front of her was none other than Logan Cale. Logan Cale. The man she had run from. The love of her life whom she left, heart ripped from his body, because she was trying to save him. She saw Zach's body again... then Joshua's. She repressed the images. She thought Logan would hate her, and maybe he did, but the look on his face didn't reflect any hatred. Just surprise, relief and love. The last one confused her. It would have been so much easier to protect him if he hated her. If he had just hunted her down to yell at her. To scream and call her names for all of the pain and the hurt she had caused him. Maybe he did and just didn't want to do it in front of Darien. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out so she closed it.

"Hey," Logan finally said. There was an awkward pause and Max opened her mouth to say something back. This time, however, a small, almost inaudible squeak emerged and Max quickly closed her mouth again. She turned dark crimson and averted her eyes. When she looked up she saw both men staring at her, Darien was confused and Logan looked concerned. She just nodded when Darien asked if she was alright, she wanted him to leave. Hell, she wanted both to leave but hey, you can't ask for mericals and Max knew that it would take more than that to get Logan to leave. Almost as if reading her mind, Darien mumbled something about work and was gone. She had a sudden urge to call him back. She realized how incredibly awkward it was being alone with Logan and she wanted nothing more than to run away again.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself and opened her mouth again. "What are you doing here?" she asked softly when she found her voice.

Logan gave a humorless chuckle and replied, "Not exactly the reaction I was expecting, but okay, I'll take that."

It was her turn to look confused, "What were you expecting? That I'd run into your arms, crying my eyes out, while sobbing, 'oh you came for me'?"

He grinned slightly. She still had the sarcasm... and the 20 foot walls surrounding her emotions. "Something like that, yea."

Max heard the front door slam again and she just figured it was Darien leaving. "That still doesn't answer the question."

"No, it doesn't." She waited for him to elaborate but he didn't.

"If you're going to pull that cryptic Eye's Only shit, I'm really not in the mood for it." she sounded annoyed but the truth was, she was somewhat relived that he wasn't telling her. Part of her didn't really want to know and somehow Logan could read it all over her face. Maybe it was because he knew her too well.

He felt a surge of courage come from nowhere and he stated plainly, "I've missed you." Max looked taken aback and she opened her mouth when the study door went bursting open.

Jason flew into the room and ran toward his mother. She instinctively bent down and picked him up as he started ranting, "Mommy, mommy, guess what. I made a new friend. His name is Kyle and he's really nice and he likes the same stuff as I do and he wants to know if I can go over to his house tomorrow. Can I pretty please?!" With that, he took some deep gasping breaths, pulled out his inhaler and gave it a short puff.

She looked at her son with concern, completely forgetting Logan was in the room, "Did you take your meds?"

The little boy sighed. "Yes mama."

"And your vitamins?" He rolled his eyes. "Don't roll your eyes at me. Answer the question." she said with a smile on her face.

"Yes mama."

Logan had been watching this exchange for a while and he felt conflicting emotions. Her concern for her child touched him but his heart shattered a little more when he realized that she'd had a child with someone else. He couldn't see the kids face because he was looking at his mother but Logan could tell he was about 3 or 4. His hair was dark brown, just like his mothers. Logan cleared his throat; he hadn't come over 5000 miles and not meet her son. For a fleeting moment Logan feared Darien was the father because the child wasn't as olive skinned as his mother... that was until she turned him around...

Max closed her eyes and kicked herself for her incompetence. How could she be so careless? She wasn't ready for Logan to know yet but she had no choice. She turned Jason around and watched Logan's face. At first there was confusion and then he saw Jason's eyes.

"Jason, this is my really good friend Logan."

Jason smiled, arrogant to what was going on around him. "Hello Mr. Logan." he said, waving at him. The smile mirrored Logan's and Logan started.

Jason's eyes were a beautiful blue color; they mirrored Logan's eyes exactly. It was Logan's turn to become speechless and he just stared, wide-eyed and his son. Max set Jason down on the ground and got on her knees so she was eye level with her son. She adjusted her shirt and said, "Jace, why don't you borrow that book you were reading earlier and go read in your room." He nodded, ran over to the bookshelf, grabbed Moby Dick off of the shelf and hurried to the door where he turned and looked at Logan, "It was nice meeting you Mr. Logan." And with that, he was gone.

There was a long, very awkward silence and Max felt as if she needed to say something. Logan was just staring at the door. She opened her mouth and closed it again, feeling stupid for doing so. She gave him more time but then she became to worry, he hadn't moved, he was barely breathing and she could swear that he'd stopped blinking for that whole time that he was staring at the door. "Logan?" she asked softly.

Logan had heard her but he had just chosen to ignore her. She had lied to him. She had told him their child was gone, dead. He had felt an unusual sense of disappointment at never knowing this little person, never having the chance to play with their son. Now... now he found she lied.

He didn't move and she thought he hadn't heard her. "I'm sorry..." she said just as softly as before. He started. He had not been expecting her to apologized, to tell the truth he didn't know what he expected of her. He looked at her, startled, almost as if he just realized that she was in the room. There was pain and anger flashing in his eyes and she took an involuntary step back. He was the only one who was able to affect her that way. She didn't want him to hate her but maybe it was for the best. She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. Then, out of the blue, the scariest thought hit her. He could try to take her son away. Her heart beat kicked up a notch but she concentrated on getting it back down. She would concentrate on that earlier.

"I think you should go," she said, her voice hard. She wanted to cry, to wipe off her tough domineer, to run into his arms and tell him she was sorry. She was so sorry for everything, for the note, for the leaving, for the lies, for the wedding... where did that come from? She didn't do any of that though. She couldn't because he was in danger for every moment he was here, talking to her. She could see that he was taken aback by her cold words and she could see the fire that had started earlier rage even more.

"Who are you to tell me to leave?! He's my son isn't he? No, don't answer that, I already know. How could you? You lied to me?! You told me that you'd lost the baby because you didn't want me to find you, didn't you? How could you?" He wasn't yelling, gods it would be so much better if he were yelling, but no, he was whispering. She let him rant his frustration out on her. She clenched her fists, letting him ride it out.

"I think you should go," she repeated, walking to the door and opening it.

"No."

"Logan-" she sighed.

"No!" he repeated, forcing the word out.

She felt anger that she couldn't control "Who are you to say all those things to me?! You stand there acting like it would have been easy to say 'hey, I'm home, guess what, the baby isn't gone. Oh and by the way, my brother took a bullet for me... again.' I did what I needed to survive Logan. Jason, I thought I had lost him. You act like everything is so easy! Well it is for you, you just sit behind your red, white and blue Halloween mask. I don't need some wannabe-vigilante telling me about right and wrong. How many lives have you ruined, huh?" It wasn't about the child anymore, now the words were meant to hurt, she wanted him out. Now.

"What, opposed to some half human, half animal genetic freak?! I may have ruined some lives but how many people have you killed out of cold blood-"

"Go home, Logan." Max said softly. She left the room, not wanting him to see how painful his words had hit her.

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_A/N: Okay, so there it is, tell me what you think :D_


	8. Truths and Comforts

_Disclaimer: okay, I'll tell you the truth, I have become so incredibly bored with coming up with new witty comments for this so just to tell you, It's not mine, I know, I am so wonderful that it should be, but alas it is not.

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Logan Cale was fuming when he returned to his hotel room. The walk was long, he was unable to hail a cab back and the 20 block walk back to the hotel gave him a lot of time to think as he walked. The meeting hadn't gone as planned. In fact, he thought of how he could imagine it could go and it had gone worse. He pulled off his glasses and sat onto the bed. He put his elbows on his knees and pinched the bridge of nose. He hadn't meant to say those things, he was just so angry at her for everything. He had just found his son didn't die, and she had kicked him out. She acted like she didn't want him there but he was one of the few people who could read her. Or at least, he thought he could.

Logan lay back on the bed and went over what was said between the both of them. After she had left the room, a woman had come for him, telling him that she would show him the door. He had followed her to the door without protest. He fell asleep as he did every night, thinking of Max and wishing she were sleeping next to him. He missed her warm body next to him, her soft breathing.

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Max walked up the stairs, contemplating going to her sons room but she didn't know if she was ready. But then, it wasn't about her now. She walked up to his door and knocked. She heard a soft grunt and took that as a grant of admission. She opened the door and walked in. Max spotted her son sitting cross-legged on his bed reading his book, well, pretending to read it anyways.

"Jason, what's wrong?" she asked with concern.

"That man was mean to you." He replied softly setting his book down softly.

"What? Why do you say that?" Max asked startled by the statement.

"I heard you two yelling at each other."

"You heard that?" he nodded. "We weren't being that loud." She said defensively.

"Tiffany couldn't hear it but I could. He was really mean to you… and then you were really mean back. Why?" Max realized that he had inherited some of her Manticore traits. She sat on the edge of the bed and held out her hands for him to come to her. He quickly got up and sat on her lap.

"Baby, that man used to be a really good friend of mine. Then something really bad happened and now he's really mad at me. We said those things to each other because we wanted to hurt each other."

"But you've always told me not to say things like that to people because it hurts their feelings."

She smiled at her son. He was so smart. "I know. We shouldn't have said those things and it was wrong to do."

"But why did you guys say those things?"

She hesitated. She wasn't ready to tell him and she wasn't sure he was really ready to know. Maybe he was, he deserved to know it. "Jason, there's something I gotta tell you, are you listening?" He nodded feverishly. "That man was your father." She waited for a reaction. The it dawned on her; she's talking to a 5 year old.

"I know." He stated simply.

She stared at him. "How?"

"His eyes look like mine." She smiled at her son. He was so bright. Well, he would be, wouldn't he? Look who had fathered him, Lydecker (_A/N: not like that you sick perverts XD_) and Logan. And he _was_ reading Moby Dick after all.

"He's a very good man." She said, not wanting him to think badly of his father just because of a few words they spat at each other, no matter how badly they had stung her.

"Where you fighting because of me?"

"No."

"But that's why you left him, wasn't it? Because of me?"

"No!" she said more firmly. "Don't ever think that. Not ever, you hear me? This is not your fault, this is about me and your father." He nodded but he still looked sad. She tapped under his chin. "Hey, chin up little man, it'll be okay."

"Can I…" he started but stopped, unsure of how to ask what he was burning for.

"Can you what?"

"Can I play with him?" he finally said.

Max was startled at her son's request. It was so innocent. He wanted to spend time with Logan, which she didn't mind… did she? She sure as hell didn't want Logan to take her son from her just as Lydecker had taken her from her mother, but she didn't want her son to miss out on knowing her father. And she didn't want his father to miss knowing out on his son.

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**Next day**

Logan heard a knock at his hotel room door. He was only wearing boxers so he called a quick "one second" and pulled on a pair of jeans. Thinking it was his room service, he also pulled out 3 bucks and pulled open the door to find Max standing there with Jason hugging her leg. Max could feel her breath catch in her throat as she watched the door open and she say Logan standing there with pants on but no T-shirt. She mentally kicked herself for staring at him but he hadn't changed in the 5 years that she had been gone, well, he had a little more muscle and he looked slightly older but that was to be expected. She had a small backpack-like bag in her hand. Logan frowned and looked up at her.

She ignored his unasked question for now and bent down to give her son a tiny tap on the back. The small child blew past Logan and into the hotel room. Max turned toward Logan, who was watching his son look around his room. "Listen, I have to go to work. I... We usually leave him with a nanny but I gave her the day off because Jason wanted to spend some time with you. Shut up and let me finish." she said when he opened his mouth to say something, she didn't know what. "I don't like it. I'm not comfortable with it but last night we talked and I told him everything. Well, about who you were... are. He deserves to know who his father is... he deserves to know his father." She paused, expecting him to say whatever it was he wanted to say before but he just gapped at her. "I'll be back around 5 to pick him up-"

"Thank you," Logan said, interrupting her finally. She gave him a strange look, kind of like the ones she would give him before they had realized how they felt about each other, when she was studying him. She hadn't known he'd seen her look at him like that back then but this time his gave him slight chills, not knowing if it was a good thing or a bad thing. As fast as the look came, it was gone and she was back to her proud stance.

She gave him the backpack-bag, looking slightly uneasy. "This has everything you might need. His inhaler, his meds, some prescriptions for just in case. I left a small sheet of instructions for you in there. It has the times he needs to take his meds and always keep his inhaler with him at all times, k?"

"What's wrong with him?"

"He's just a little week. He was born prematurely but only by a few weeks. The doctors think it may just be a genetic thing. I think it may be the mixing of our DNA." He gave her a puzzled look. "Manicore did some tests back in the day with us and Ordinaries. Some of the babies didn't come out right. Jason's a miracle child compared to the test subjects. He'll be fine with the medication."

Logan rummaged through the bag and looked at one of the bottles. "How can you afford these, they must have cost a fortune each."

"I don't pay for them. Darien is kind enough to purchase them when we need them." She said, her discomfort showing and Logan decided to drop the subject. He pulled out Darien's copy of Moby Dick and held it up to Max giving her a questioning look.

"He's reading it right now... I thought I'd put it in. You know, just in case. Just, um, don't tell Darien 'cause he'll be kind of mad. He doesn't like it when Jason takes his books out of the office."

"He's read more than Moby Dick?"

"Yea, he loves to read all sorts of books. He picked it up pretty fast as a toddler and now he's on to reading bigger books." She said with a proud smirk.

They could both hear Jason in the background, jumping on the bed making Logan smile. Max couldn't look at him, his smile still made her go weak at the knees, damn him. "Jace." she called into the room. He ran up to his mother as she bent down and gave him a big hug. "I'll be back around 5, okay?" he nodded. She stood and placed on last kiss on the top of his head. She turned to walk away but Logan called out to her.

"Thank you." he said again. "You don't know how much this means to me."

"I think I do. I'll be back around 5." she said softly and with that, she walked down the hall and out of sight.

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_A/N: yay this one didn't take forever... on the bad side, it might suck... a lot XD tell me wat you think, much appriciated (haha i know i horribly misspelled that word, oh well ;D)_


	9. authors note sry peeps

_Okay, so this whole thing is an authers note. I'm really sorry I haven't updated lately but somethin's come up and a really close friend of mine is goin' through a rough time so I've kinda had to put this off for a while. I have the next chapter partily written but I dont know when I'll get the chance to type it up and up load it so just please bare with me for a while, Ill try to get this rolling again. Thanx so much for your paitents, you guys are the best, much luv._

_X_


	10. The real chapter 9

_Disclaimer: Blah blah blah. _

_A/N: Finally!!! School is out, I am done with high school forever, and i finally got this stupid chapter up... well okay, its not stupid but it was pretty frustrating juggling everything XD, okay, no more waiting, ill let you get to the chap. _

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Max knocked at the hotel room door and paced. She didn't get an answer so she listened carefully but she couldn't hear anyone inside. She listened carefully but she couldn't hear anything inside. She knocked again anyways. She checked her watch and paced back and forth. 5:05. Her mind started to wonder. She knew leaving Jason there was a bad idea. Why didn't she just listen to her gut?! Logan wouldn't have taken him back to Seattle, would he? No... no, she knew Logan wouldn't do something like that... she was sure of it... wasn't she? She tried to dismiss the thought but her maternal instincts wouldn't let it go, not until she saw her son.

She heard the ding of the elevators and turned to look down the hall. She saw Logan turn the corner with their son in his arms. Jason was fast asleep with his head resting on Logan's shoulder. As soon as she saw the sight before her, all worries left and she just watched as he walked down the hall toward her, committing the sight to memory.

Logan walked up to her. "He fell asleep in the elevator," he whispered with a small smile.

She returned his smile. She couldn't help it and she held out her arms to take him. "Did you guys have fun?" she asked softly, smiling, as Logan transferred Jason from his shoulder to hers. She positioned him on her hip with his head on her shoulder like Logan had had him.

Logan smiled and nodded. "He's a good kid."

"The best." She said with her old spark.

Logan laughed and agreed and handed her the backpack. When she took it she felt an extra bit of weight but she didn't think to hard about it.

"Well I had better get him back." She said after a slightly awkward silence. She looked up into his eyes and had to remind herself that she was getting married to... 'what's was his name, oh yea, Darien. Think of Darien and his blue, no brown eyes. Damnit! Okay, move your feet, come on.' "Good-bye Logan." she said abruptly and turned to leave.

Logan's heart jumped when she said this and he didn't want her to go. "Max, wait," he said before he could stop himself. She turned and he scrambled to think of something to say. "Um... well... Thanks." he said. Max nodded and walked away.

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Jason slept the whole way home and he started to stur as the driver pulled up to the house. "Hey sleepy-head," Max said as he opened his eyes. "Did you have fun with daddy?"

He nodded feverishly and smiled a broad smile at her. "H took me out to lots of places and then we went out to lunch and he took me to the toy store and he bought me a new towy and they we-" he stopped. "Oops. I wasn't supposed to tell you that." He said turning slightly red.

"Why not?"

"Cause daddy didn't want you to get mad at him so he put it into the little bag with my medicine. Please don't tell him I told you."

Max laughed and smiled at her son. "Don't worry, I won't. And I take it you didn't have a nap?"

He nodded. "I did in the elevator and on the way home-"

"That's not what I meant Smarty."

She sent him to his room with his new toy and a small pat. She then went to Darien's study hoping to sneak the book back in without him noticing. Unfortunately, Darien was sitting at his desk doing something. She groaned inwardly but didn't lose her composer, she just continued forward. He didn't even look up when she entered the room and stuck the book in its correct place. She turned to walk out.

"Did you take Jason to work with you today?" asked Darien. She saw he still hadn't looked up. She rolled her eyes.

"No, why do you ask?" she replied.

"I was just wondering."

"Why?" now she was confused. Since when has he ever shown an interest in what Jason did or didn't do during the day?

"Curiosity," he said. "So where did he spend the day if he wasn't with you or the nanny?"

She wondered how he would react if he knew the truth. She had not expected him to question about it and it occurred to her that he had never really taken an interest in her son. It annoyed her that she hadn't seen it before. She was getting married to this man in just barely over a week. Then another thought occurred to her. "How did you know he wasn't will the nanny?"

"I, uh, didn't seen her around."

"You never do. You rarely ever leave the office when you work from home if you do at all. Your not even looking up at me right now and I'm in the same room." He finally looked up at her, clearly annoyed.

"Kyra, I was just making conversation. You shouldn't take things so personally." He looked down at his work. "Besides, you still haven't told me where Jason was today."

Okay, now she was pissed, he could at least look at her when he talked to her. "He was with his father." She stated matter-of-factly and then gauged his reaction. It worked as she had hoped. He stopped writing and looked up at her, baffled for a moment and then he looked thoroughly pissed off.

"What?! What do you mean he was with his father? Who's his father?"

"What do you care, as far as I know, you don't even like the kid."

"Of course I like the kid-"

"You have never once taken an interest in what he does except... wait, how did you know he wasn't with the nanny?"

"I... because you told me he was with his father, whose name you failed to mention." He was on his feet now, leaning on the desk. Max took some pleasure in seeing that his face was a little red from the rage flowing through him. But the pleasure didn't last long.

"I only told you he was with his father after you said you knew he wasn't with the nanny."

"Fine, she called me alright." he said in defeat.

"Why you? You've never even met her." Now she was really confused. He never leaves his office during the day and as far as she knew, he doesn't leave his office to go spend time with Jason or the nanny.

"We ran into each other a few times. And she was scared she was in trouble. She wanted to make sure she still had a job."

"She's working tomorrow... I'm still confused as to why she called you and not me. In trouble for what?"

"Well you know, she was just, worried." Max saw all the signs. He was on the spot, like a cornered animal. She could see his eyes dart to anywhere but her, he wiped his hands on his trousers like they were sweaty, and she knew.

"Oh, my, god. Your screwing the nanny." She said in a disbelieving voice.

* * *

_A/N: sry i have to leave it there but i swears ill update sooner cause i have the flu and nothing to do other than sleep and write_


	11. Trapped

_Disclaimer: yea yea you know the drill..._

_A/N: Okay so its a long chap cause you guys were so patient with me, thanks again. Also this chap should prolly be rated M cause of language but theres not much of it._

* * *

"Oh, my, god. You're screwing the nanny." Max said in a disbelieving voice. She really couldn't believe it, he was a man-whore but come on, that's just too… cliché. She turned at put a hand on her forehead. "I mean, he's not even your kid. That's just disgusting, she's, what, 17, 18?" 

"K-Kyra, I don't know what you're talking about." He didn't look confused. More panicked than confused but Max wasn't watching him.

She rounded on him and gave him a humorless laugh. "Don't bull-shit me Darien. How stupid do you think I am, seriously?! All those late night work 'issues' and 'problems'. The only 'issue' is you just can't keep it in your pants."

"You knew?" He walked up to her and towered over her, almost as if it was supposed to intimidate her. Yea, right.

"Of course I knew. How could I not know?" She pushed him, hard. She needed him away from her now. "Oh god what was I thinking? I've been so stupid."She pulled open the door to leave but he shut it before she could open it all the way. She had a sudden flashback of Logan doing the same thing. The only difference was she would willingly break this man's hand in four different places and not even bash an eyelash in his direction. Instead she rolled her eyes and pulled the door open with more force, making him stumble backwards. She walked down the corridor but felt him pull her then push her up against the wall. He had his hands on her upper arms and he was looking in her eyes. She just stared him down.

"What are you going to do, huh? Are you going to leave me, is that it?" he snarled. There was no love in his eyes; it was almost like looking at a whole different man.

"What, you want me to stay? When you could have all of those pretty little things? Please." She pushed him again but this time he was harder to shove. "Get off me." She said pushing again. He still wouldn't move.

"No. First you have to hear me out."

"I've heard enough. This whole relationship was a mistake. I'm leaving." With that, she did the first thing that came to mind. She kneed him hard in the stomach and he went down.

Max hurried up to her son's room and opened the door. He was sitting on the floor with his new toy, a plane, looked military but she made no comment. She pulled out her cell phone and called Logan. He didn't answer so she left a message saying that they needed to talk and she would be over soon. She also told him to pack his bags and she would explain everything when she got there. Then she turned to Jason and picked him up, grabbed his medicine bag and walked down the stairs.

Darien was waiting at the front door.

"Move or I go through you, you chose." She said angrily hugging Jason closer to her body. He still had the toy in his hand.

"Where are you going to go?" He asked with a smirk.

"Home." She said for the first time in five years. She tried to push past him to open the door but he blocked it.

"Home? And where might that be?" He looked amused. She wanted to kick him so hard he would have children.

"With Logan." She stated before she knew what she was saying. She looked down, deep in thought for a moment and then looked up with a smile on her face. Darien had only seen that smile when she watched Jason and even then it came rarely, he was taken aback by it. "That's where it's always been."

Darien's smile faltered. "That bastard I let in my house? That's the brat's father?" He looked a Jason, who had remained quiet the whole time. Max stayed quiet.

"The wedding's off." She said finally and made to open the door but stopped when she heard a gun chamber click. She looked at Darien but he wasn't holding a gun. She heard another click behind her and she turned.

"There is no way in hell you're leaving me." Came Darien's voice in her ear as she turned on about 20 armed men surrounding the entry hall. She dropped her hand. "I'm so sorry it had to come to this but, well, you see, it wouldn't look good if you left me and I had some, other, plans in mind for the wedding. Okay Max?"

All Max could do was stare at the man. How the fuck did he know her name? She nodded and felt Jason whimper and snuggle closer to her body, if that was possible.

* * *

Jason was in his room and Darien had put a 24 hour watch on him. Max sat in his study, hands in her lap and waited. She was going to kill him. She resolved that there in the entry hall when he had pulled 20 guns on her baby. When he did that he signed his own death warrant at the same time. 

He walked in, head high, and she thought of all the things she could do to that neck and keep him alive long enough to watch him suffer. But she waited. She wanted to know why. Damnit, in the past she would have been okay with just killing him and moving on but this was deeper. This just got so much more personal. She crossed her legs and leaned back against the chair resting her hands across the arms of the chair. She looked more relaxed than she felt.

Darien sat down behind his desk and looked at her. She glanced at the guard at her right, then the one at her left. There was one behind Darien and presumably another behind her. So, he knew what she was capable of.

"You do realize that I could probably take down all of you muscles without breaking a sweat and before you even knew what hit you." A statement, not a question.

"Oh, I know perfectly well what you're capable of, Max." He stressed her name and as he did so she felt a handcuff go around her arm and then the chair.

She pulled at it. No budge. She glared at the guy who did it. "I think I'll kill you first." She said softly to him with a warm smile. He looked unsettled but she turned her attention away from him and back to Darien, who said, "I know everything about you. I always do my homework."

He looked amused and she was hit with the urge to wipe the smirk off his face. "You know, Logan was expecting me about thirty minutes ago. He'll probably go to the police."

"Baby, I own the police-"

"Don't call me that."

"-You know that." Said Darien, the smirk hadn't wavered. "Now, what's going to happen is I am going to send you over to Logan's hotel, you are going to tell him to leave town and never come back, and you are going to come back and we are going to get married in a week. Do you understand me?"

"Yea, I understand, what I want to know is, why?"

"Because I love you and I want us to be happy." He said in a forced voice. "And if you don't then I will be forced to use unpleasant measures towards your son. All of which end in his death." Oh yea, he was going to die a very slow, very painful death.

"Yea, yea," she said putting up a façade and waving her free hand. "I get that part, it's a bad guy thing, saw that coming a mile away. What I don't get is why you don't want me to leave. I'd be out of your hair, you could, you know, screw whoever you wanted and we could just move on with our lives." That so wasn't going to happen. He was the living dead; he just didn't know it yet.

"Because I need you-"

"How sweet."

"-and the brat is leverage. You are ruining my plans but that can all be fixed." He said with a wave of his hand.

She stopped. "Plans? What plans?"

"Ah, first you get rid of the brat's father, and then we can talk."

* * *

Max walked up to the door and stopped. She looked down the hall. Thug one (The bastard who handcuffed her) on the left, thug two on the right. She lifted her hand, balled a fist as if to knock and hesitated. The door opened anyways and Logan made as if to hug her but stopped. 

"What's wrong?" He asked concerned.

"Nothin'." She smiled and pushed her way in, closing her eyes while her back was turned to him and took a deep breather. She had thought about telling him the truth, of course she had but she had to weigh the facts. He wouldn't leave if he knew the truth. He wouldn't let that happen and the end result could mean her son's death. Max loved Logan, but this wasn't about just them anymore. She would protect her son at all cost. She turned on him and he looked puzzled.

"But when you called you sounded… scared." He said with a frown.

"Come on Logan, I don't get scared." She stated bluntly. She hated putting up this act and lying to him but she just couldn't do anything else. She had no other options but she did need his help, she just didn't know how to get it. She set part of her mind formulating a plan but for now she had to stick with the original.

"Then why did you tell me to pack?" he asked.

"Because you're going to leave on the next plane back to Seattle. You have to be packed to leave." She turned around and started fumbling with whatever she could find.

"Then why did you sound worried when you called?"

"Oh that, that was just nothing." She said dismissing it with a wave of her hand.

"That wasn't nothing. I've never heard you sound like that before."

"Darien and I, we just had a fight that's all. You know, wedding stuff." She said, still not looking at him but now looking at his suitcase.

"Did you fight because of me? Were you going to leave him?" She closed her eyes. He gave her an opening that she didn't want to take.

"Why would I leave him, I love him." She said in a cold voice.

"You loved me."He said quietly and she could feel the tears she never cried build up in her eyes. She blinked them down. They would come out now.

"Also, on the plus side, he's great with Jason," _yea right_ "and the staff all love him." _Well, the women anyways. _"And besides," she said, rounding to face him. "He had enough money to support us and he can pay for Jason medicine."

"I could too."

"Now you couldn't."She said, taking a step forward. "The money for the meds barely makes a dent in Darien's monthly paycheck but it would make a crater out of your yearly one. You couldn't afford it even if you wanted to. Maybe if you hadn't sold out Jonas…" she let the though die. She could see that he wasn't budging but she didn't need to yet, she still needed a plan. And then the perfect one came to her.

"You will be compensated for your troubles-" she started.

"You think that's what I want? You think that's why I flew over the entire country to find you, why I spent the last 5 years looking for you? Because I want money?!"

"No. But every man has his price, Logan, you know that." She said as if it was a commonly known fact.

"I don't!" He yelled pointing at himself.

"Why are you here Logan? What do you have here?"

"I have my son."

"Fine. You can have him." She paused. "After the wedding." It was a good plan, as she saw it. If she couldn't get away from Darien, she could at least get her son away. She looked into Logan's eyes and saw him staring at her in shock.

"What's going on?" he asked finally.

"Nothing is going on."

"You wouldn't just give up your son just like that. You wouldn't because of what they did to your mother at Manticore."

"I never said I was giving him up. He'll visit me too."

"Since when has that been enough?"

"For who?"

"For anybody."

"Logan," she said softly. "I've had him for five years. You've had him for a day."

"You're not seriously telling me that you're willing to give up your son for this guy?"

"Deadly serious. Every time I look as Jason, all I see is you. It would be best if you took him the time being. So I can settle down with Darien."

"I refuse to believe this. You can't be serious." This time it was his turn to look away but then he looked back. "What does he do?"

"'Scuse me?" She stopped the facade for a moment.

"What does he do? As in, for a living."

"I don't see how this-"

"His occupation, what does he do for a living?" He was yelling now.

"He's... a lawyer. What does this have to do with-"

"What kind of lawyer?"

"God Damnit Logan."

"What kind of lawyer?"

"Criminal defense. Big cases. Lots of money." She said annoyed. "What. Does. This. Have. To. Do. With. The. Situation?"

"What did his parents do?"

She sighed and gave in. "They owned a big chain of hotels before the pulse. Somehow they managed to keep their money so they are filthy rich. Why does this matter?!"

"I don't believe you love him." Stated Logan. "I want you to look me in the eye and tell me that that you love him and not me."

* * *

_A/N: Yay two pluses, long chapter and a fast update. what can I say, I'm amazing._

_Reviews be nice, thanks to all._


	12. Lies and Confessions

_Disclaimer: bored now, just don't sue 'cause it's not mine and I don't even have lint in my pockets XD_

* * *

Max got back to the mansion and went straight to her son's room. She pushed pasted the muscle and walked into the room. As soon as the door was closed and locket she put her back to it, slid down, and for the first time in 5 years, cried for everything she did to put herself where she was. She thought running would have helped. She thought she was protecting the people she loved. She cried harder when her son came up to her and comforted her. She gathered him into her arms.

_30 minutes earlier_

"I don't believe you love him." Stated Logan. "I want you to look me in the eye and tell me that that you love him and not me."

She turned and looked him in the eye. As she did so, she felt the world crumble around her and the room started getting smaller and smaller until it was just the two of them, together. 'The way it should be' she thought bitterly. "I am in love with Darien." She said in a voice that didn't even sound like her own. She paused, not wanting to say the next part. When she felt she had stalled enough without letting him on to her lie, she whispered, "I don't love you anymore." She said it and found that she couldn't breathe. She needed out, she needed to leave. And he just stood there.

Max turned to leave but hesitated with her hand on the door. "I'm so sorry." She said softly and she left. As she walked down the hall she wanted desperately for him to call her bluff and to say it was alright. That he understood. She reached the elevators and stopped. The two goons were next to her but she ignored them and just waited for her miracle.

* * *

When she was done crying she composed herself and walked out of the room, leaving Jason in his room, she marched downstairs to Darien's office. She doesn't bother knocking, she's done being polite to the bastard, and storms right in.

"So, did you get rid of him?" asked Darien. He still wouldn't look up at her.

"He wants payment." She stated bluntly.

Darien stopped writing whatever it was he was writing and looked up at her. "What?"

"Every man has his price, Darien. You know that." She glared at him and he just went back to working. She was standing in front of his desk and she looked down to see that he was writing statements for some drug lord client of his. She also noticed his check book next to him. She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and slapped it on the desk over the papers he was writing on. "420,000,000 dollars."

"What?" Darien asked again.

"What are you, a broken record? You wanted him gone, I got him to go. He chose the number, not me." The lie flowed easily from her mouth and she silently thanked Manticore for giving her that ability. She kept her face inert and dispassionate as she could. In order for her plan to work, she needed him to believe every word.

"It must have hurt when he agreed to take the money and leave town, didn't it?" Darien asked with a smirk on his face. He took smiled wider when he saw her jaw lock.

"Just give me the damn money." She spat. He laughed but opened the check book and scribbled in it. Then he tore the check out and handed it to her. She examined it to make sure everything was in order and stuck it in her pocket and marched out of the room.

Max moved toward the front door and just before she opened it she heard somebody shuffle up behind her. She glance the direction of the sound and saw a new side of beef practically hugging her back and finally placing a hand on her shoulder. She stopped moving.

"You want to keep that hand?" She asked and he quickly retracted it. She rolled her eyes and walked to the front yard, hailing the car.

She got in and noticed that Handboy got in the front. The car started driving and the driver asked where they were going. Handboy hadn't moved. Max told the driver and they were off. They went to two different banks. One to cash the check into her account and the second to transfer 411,214,518 dollars into Logan's account.

* * *

Max got back from her errands and headed to Darien's study when she felt someone behind her. She turned and saw Handboy standing next to her… again.

"I don't need a babysitter." She glared at him.

"I am here for your safety." He replied. She rounded on him.

"It should be your safety you should be worried about." He didn't reply and she just rolled her eyes and moved on.

She reached Darien's office, barged right in, and sure enough there was a woman (was that his secretary?) hanging off him, partially clothed. The girl jumped back from Darien and started babbling the random crap about how it wasn't what it seemed and blah blah blah. Darien, for his part, just looked extremely annoyed.

"You. Out." Max said pointing at the door with her thumb. The woman (it is his secretary, that whore) rushed out of the room while putting on her cloths. Max didn't move for her. She did, however, slam the door on Handboy before he could come in.

Max pointed at the door again and asked, "Isn't she married?" while taking a seat in front of the large oak desk in the center of the room. She'd hated that thing from day one but now it was just plain disgusting to her.

"What do you want Max?" sighed Darien, taking his seat behind the desk and adjusting his cloths.

"You just gave me a check for 420 million dollars without so much as blinking the wrong way. No one does that. So, I want you to tell me why it's so important for me to marry you. Why are you so hell-bent on destroying my life?"

"Because you killed my brother." He said it so calmly that Max almost thought he was joking.

"What? I- That's a bunch of crap!"

"My brother was in charge of a smuggling operation." _47 people paying $20,000 each to be smuggled into Canada so they could earn enough money to eat...are dead._ "He was good money off the people who wanted out of the country." _They were marched overboard last night by their ruthless handlers who operate with the knowledge, support and active collaboration of government officials only too happy to look the other way for a piece of the action_. "He worked for Solinski but you fucked it all up. You took his money and got him killed." _It's amazing what happens when you put three dirtbags in a room and money disappears. Tempers flare. Guns are drawn. Three dead dirtbags._ "In my eyes that make you the murderer."

"Then you might want to get your eye's checked 'cause I don't know what the hell your talking about."

"Don't play dumb with me you little bitch."

"Takes one to know one." Darien was standing. Max couldn't remember when he stood up.

"I spent years looking for you but in the end, you found me." The smile he gave her made Max uneasy. It took a lot of her superhuman strength to keep from squirming in her chair.

"How do you know I did it?" she asked masking her unease.

"Witnesses placed a young girl of about 18 at the scene. One said she was carrying a bag that looked pretty full. She took out all of the guards who confronted her without breaking a sweat. Then the money's gone, it just 'disappeared.'"

"Maybe he took the money."

"He didn't because you did!" Darien snarled. "The next day Eyes Only did a broadcast on it. Did you know that that's how our mother found out about her dead son? It had to have been someone who worked for Eyes Only that killed him. Later, a wanted poster went out all across Seattle with a picture matching the description of the bitch that killed my brother."

"Okay, fine, you got me. But if you ask me, he should have chosen a better line of work. One with better benefits."

"You should have too." He was standing in front of her now.

"What I don't get is, why the wedding? Why not just off me and get it over with? I mean, why go through all that trouble just for little ol' me?"

"That was my first plan. Remember when we first met?" She did. He had tried to get her to go home with him but she wouldn't. He then spent the next 3 months trying to get her to go out with him. She nodded hesitantly. "At first I was just going to kill you and be done with it. But then I decided, since you ruined my mother and my brother's life, I wanted to ruin yours too. I was a much sweeter revenge."

"That's sick."

"That's politics Baby. Anyway, I decided to court you and eventually marry you, it would also look so much better in the public's eyes. At first there was going be some sort of accident that was going to kill you on our wedding night, some disgruntled client killed you. It would be one hell of a sympathy vote. Then something even better came my way. Agent Ames White." _So you're the new bad guy in my life. Gee, miss the old ones already._ "He has currently made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

"We in the mofia now." She wouldn't show him she was afraid. She wouldn't give him that pleasure.

"After our wedding I will turn you into Agent White and then he will publicly announce how I have helped the government a great deal, how I'm a noble hero and all that. And in return, I will be given full immunity and you have to admit, it does make me look good."

"Yeah, you're a great role model for the kids. So, let me get this straight." She stood up and looked him in the eyes. "You're going to turn in your new wife and her 5 year old to the government who are going to torture and probably kill them, and that show's you're _not_ an insensitive bastard?"

"That sounds about right."

"That's sick. No your sick."

"You killed my brother-"

"He deserved it!" She was so mad that she didn't realize until too late what was happening. Darien back-handed her across the face. She recovered quickly and retaliated in a matter of milliseconds by balling up her fist and punching him. She heard a satisfying snap as his nose broke. She considered killing him and being rid of him but she didn't want to gamble her son's life. She would find a way out of her predicament. She had to, if not for her sake, then her son's.

"Touch me again and, so help me, I will end you." She said calmly as she was "kindly" escorted back to her room.

* * *

_A/N: Ah, finally, I'll try not to take so long with the next chapter but hey, i'm making it up as I go. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the chap but whatever, its good enough and I already redid it once._


	13. Escape

_A/N: Okay, for those who didn't catch that, those scene were from the end of episode one and the beginning of episode two. But I'm sure you guys already knew __that ;D__. So here's my _

* * *

Max spent the majority of the night pacing her room. She needed out and it was starting to make her feel… claustrophobic. Which was ironic really. Here she was, trapped in this huge house and she felt it was just to small. She allowed herself to smile at the thought but then she when back to her planning. She thought of picking or breaking the lock but she knew there were at least 10 men outside her door alone who would hear her trying to get out. Tactically this was the worst place she wanted to be right now. Lydecker would be so disappointed. She took two deep breathers and decided what she needed to do.

Logan sat in the airport. This didn't feel like him. This was the second time he's run away from her and Eyes Only did not run away. He got shot in the back the last time he could remember running away. The clock on the wall read 10:00 am. There was about an hour and a half left until his flight. He couldn't believe he was leaving her. Not again and not with their son still with her. Jason. He was such a beautiful child and Logan didn't ever want to let him go. But she had said that Jason was going to come live in Seattle for a while. Just the two of them. No Max.

A yawn managed to escape for Logan's mouth. He hadn't slept that night. He was too busy thinking about Max. What she had said seemed so… genuine, so true, that he didn't know whether or not he should believe her. She had spent her whole life lying that he figured she was so good at it by now, he wouldn't even know the true if it slapped him in the face. But then again, maybe it had. Those words had been a slap in the face. Then she said sorry. He wondered if she had meant it. If she was sincerely sorry for the pain she'd put in through for all those years.

Logan rubbed his eyes. His brain hurt. Finally, he decided to take a small nap before his plane arrived. Maybe then he would be able to figure out what to do.

* * *

_4__ days __'__til the wedding bells ring_

Max paced her room. She was getting nervous now. Had her message gotten out? He wasn't stupid, she knew that but there was no message on her message. She thought about calling Alec but he was supposed to get in within the hour anyways.

She knocked on the door. It opened and she saw her new best friends standing outside. They all tensed as she came out of the room.

"Chill boys, I'm just going to the bathroom." She said. She walked casually down the hall but the back of her mind processed all the information she needed. The bathroom in this hall was just two doors down from Jason's room on his side of the house which was facing outside. She walked into the bathroom and did some quick calculations. When she was done deciding what she wanted to do she walked back to her room but left the door hanging open.

Thug 23 (Darien had a seemingly endless supply of thugs) went to close the door and she stopped him. "I'm taking a shower, leave it open." She didn't turn around and she figured he was probably spooked by her order.

As soon as she gathered her things, Max made her way down the hall again. The group of thugs tensed up… again. She didn't know whether to be pleased or annoyed. She decided she might as well go with the former because she might be able to use it in the future if need be.

She stepped into the bathroom, locked it, and looked around. There was a beautiful porcelain toilet with an exotic design around the side and the edge of the seat cover. The shower was just next to the toilet. It sat between the toilet and the door, which was perfect cover for what she had been planning. The window, the main object of her plan, was located just above the toilet.

Max set her cloths and towel on the floor next to the door. She unfolded the towel and pulled out the lock-picking tools she managed to save from the random raids Darien had him men perform on her room, both when she was in and out of it. She set the tools on the cloths she brought to keep from making any noise. She then turned on the shower and bent down, unfolded the towel, and shoved it under the door. Making sure the towel was enough under to so they couldn't hear out but it wasn't noticeable that there was a towel sticking out under the door. Max climbed onto the toilet seat and went to picking the lock. She got it in record time and slowly pushed it open, checking for brutes down below. She started to climb out but hesitated. The last time she had tried this was about two days ago and out of her room window. The guards outside her window had heard and came storming into the room, guns drawn and orders bellowed. She still had the cut from when one of them got cocky and hit her with the butt of his gun. He was in the hospital right now with a concussion. This one had to go right or she didn't even want to know what Darien would do with her or worse, her son.

When she pulled herself out of the window and grabbed on to the ledge that was, thank god, hanging over the window. She shimmied down the wall. She had already used up about 10 minutes of her approximate 30 maybe 40-45. She shimmied her way past the first window and reached Jason's. She picked the lock and when she opened the window Jason was at the window, still hugging his toy that his father had bought him. Since their "imprisonment" the two had become inseparable.

"Can you hold on to my neck really tightly?" He nodded. "Okay, I need you to hold on really tightly and don't let go, okay?" He nodded again. "And I need you to do everything I say, no matter what. Promise?" Another nod. "And if anything goes wrong I want you to run as fast as you can." More nodding. "If you do need to do that, I need you to find Uncle Alec or Auntie Cindy. I don't care how or how long it takes."

"Mommy, I'm scared."

"I know baby but I need you to be strong, just for a while." He nodded again and carefully climbed onto her back.

* * *

As Jason and his mother where making their escape, Alec and Cindy walked off of their plane and into the terminal.

* * *

At the same time, Logan Cale was looking at his bank account and finding an enormous sum of money that he didn't remember having.

* * *

_A/N: Okay, that __be__ it for now. Tell me what you think. And to tell you the truth, I have no idea of how she's gonna get through this so tell me what you think,or if you want something in there, let me know and I'll consider it, I'd love to hear your idea's._

_Oh and just a heads up, the next chapter might take a while cause I'm not getting the new HP book until monday and when I do, I will do nothing but read and take bathroom breaks XD. It is true, I am in great need of a life, I will fully admit it._


	14. FINALLY!

_A/N: okay, so I think I know why I didn't really know what to do. I didn't really like the number I used in Logan's bank account, it was going to spell danger but I really decided I didn't like that idea. I didn't really know where to go with it and how to work with it so I decided to just change it to Max's barcode cause it just makes more sense to me really 'cause to me Max is more the person to use a code instead of numbers and I don't know any of the codes XD. I should have seen it. Oh well, its done now :D_

* * *

Logan sat at his desk and stared at the computer screen. 332,960,452 dollars. That was a lot of money. He looked up where it was deposited. New York. Max. That was her barcode wasn't it? That random series of numbers was her. But why? He hadn't wanted the money. He stopped. No her barcode was 332960073452 so where was the 073? But other than that, it was still her barcode. What the hell was going on?! 

Max dropped from the ledge and landed softly on the grass. She scanned the area quickly. The best way to corner her would be from the right; she practically had a blind spot going for her there. She backed into the corner, her son still holding tightly to her neck.

"Okay, baby, let go of mommy's neck for a moment." He did. She bent down to meet his eyes. "Remember what I told you, no matter what happens, just keep running." He nodded. She stood and took his hand, leading him away from the house. There was a bodyguard walking away from her at her 5 o clock but she just ignored him. Then her advanced hearing (thank Manticore for that) picked up on the guy's radio tipping him off that she had disappeared out of the Western window and to keep a look out and the boss wanted her alive. He pulled a gun out of his jacket pocket and held it out in front of him. Amateurs. Max picked up Jason and started to hurry.

"Stop!" She kept going. "I said STOP!" He radioed their position in to whoever was listening. She was starting to get really tired of this now. She broke out into a full out run and that received a couple of gunshots in her general direction. More shooting signified a second shooter and they were getting unsettlingly closer to their intended targets of her legs. She was so close! A bullet managed to graze her thigh and she stumbled slightly but trudged on.

Outside the wall was no better because of all of the cars surrounding them. Max skidded to a stop as did the cars. She saw an opening in a small alleyway on the other side of the street. After about a second of analyzing the probability of her actually making it across she just said screw it, she'll take her chances because they are probably better than going back. Especially for her son. So she took off across the street and down the alleyway. It was a maze of twists and turns and when she finally made it out of the alley, she just ran into another.

After several blocks, about 8 to be exact, she decided that her leg hurt like fuck, she was actually tired for once, and her son had gotten frighteningly heavier over the past years. Or maybe she's just slowing down 'cause of all the practice she's been not doing. At least when she was a cat burglar and then a leg (wo)man for Logan she still got some practice. She set Jason down and tore one of her sleeves off of her long sleeved shirt. The wound was still bleeding and she had lost a lot of blood. She rapped the sleeve above the injury to stop the blood from going to it but she couldn't do much about the stuff she'd lost.

Max buried in her pockets and pulled out the cell phone and pager and through them at a wall. She grabbed her son's hand and pulled him, limping, away down yet another alley.

* * *

"What do you mean 'Gone'?!" Darien asked testily. His goon, Robert or Ronald or Richard or whatever flinched. That pleased him… a bit. 

"S-sir, she got away but we think we may have hit her."

"You what?!"

"In the leg, sir. Nothing serious. You know we wouldn't harm her on purpose."

"No I don't know that. What I want to know is that you will bring her back, ALIVE. Forget the wedding, I just want that bitch dead by my hand. Now!"

"Sir."

* * *

Max walked pasted a payphone and stopped. She dug through her jeans but couldn't find any change so she looked at her son. Jason had a solemn expression when he shook his head. 

"Okay Jace, I'm gonna teach you something really cool okay?" She picked him up with one hand and the receiver with the other. "I want you to it the payphone with the palm of your hand just there, okay? Go ahead." He hit it and they heard the familiar clink of change falling. She smiled warily. "That's my boy. Good job!" She set him down and started to dial Logan's number but stopped. She hit the machine again and dialed Alec's cell first.

"Yellow." She rolled her eyes.

"Alec-"

"Heya Maxie, we're just about to see you."

"No, don't go to the mansion!"

"Maxie, your driver picked us up."

"Alec, I don't care how, kill him if you have to, but I need you and OC to go somewhere else and pick me up. Something's happened. Something bad and I need to get out of New York."

"What, your past catch up with you again?" He laughed.

"Actually… yeah, and now, because of that, my fiancé is threatening to kill me, my son, you, OC, and Logan, so I really need you to not go to the mansion right now."

A pause, some screeching and then a thump. "Hey Boo, where are you?"

Now why did she not know? "Hold on. Jason, so find out what cross streets we're on."

"Oh and Pretty Boy didn't kill the man, just in case you were kidding-"

"Holy shit, did it would like I was kidding?" she asked hysterically. The world was starting to spin a little. Jason came back with the information (_A/N__:I__ don't know New York so think up a cross street and pretend they're there, __sry__ XD_) and she told OC.

"We're on our way Boo, hang in there."

Max hung up the phone, hit the phone box again and dialed Logan's number again. No answer. She tried again. Again, no answer. A third time. Nada. Maybe he was out for coffee, she mused. Her vision was all blurry when she tried again.

"Hello?"

"I need you to get out of the apartment and go to Joshua's."

"Max?" _Yea, no shit Sherlock_. She couldn't see clearly and everything seemed to fade a little. She started to feel a little cold, was that normal?

"N-no, it's the g-g-goddamn tooth fairy! Just… just… get out… you're… you…" She couldn't remember anything after that. She didn't remember his reply or the sound of worry and panic in his voice. She didn't remember Jason screaming for her to get up or Original Cindy and Alec driving up. She didn't remember the drive to the hospital or even being admitted. She did, however, remember a dream she had in which she and Logan were walking on the beach holding hands. And Jason was there building a sand castle and there that was a randy scene in a hut in the middle of nowhere. Then she woke up to reality, in a little hospital bed in a little hospital room in a very big hospital in New York. She felt kind of small being there.

She shot up. The doctor came in and told her to lie down and relax.

"Where's my son?"

"Outside with your friends. You are very lucky, you know. A gunshot wound and a graze. You lost a lot of blood."

"I didn't get shot. It was just the graze."

"Well apparently not because you were shot in the back of the leg as well." How had she not felt that?!

"What?"

"Yes, we had to call you fiancé to confirm blood type. He should be on his way now."

"WHAT? So you just called my fiancé without asking me how I got these?!"

"Well, your friends said you were a bystander in a gang shoot out." He took out a shot and put some fluid that Max didn't catch inside.

"I- well- it's the principle of the matter, what if he had done this to me? I don't want that."

"Oh, It'll just help you sleep until he comes."

"I don't want it." She knocked it away.

"Miss, I need to give it to you. It'll help with the pain."

"Then just gimme a shot of morphine."

"Miss, please, just-"

"That's fine, she doesn't need it" came a third, very male, very not Alec's, voice. Max's heart stopped.

_A/N: Okay, so I'm rereading the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy again and I have a towel to protect myself from all of your insults and just random crap you decide to throw at me. I just want you to come back and I promise that I will try with all my might to get the next chapter up sooner than this one. I am very very sorry bout that whole, taking forever thing XD..._

_Oh and if you haven't, so go see that movie Stardust. Its one of the best I've seen in a long while 3_


	15. evade

"Miss, please, just-"

"That's fine, she doesn't need it" Came a third, very male, not Alec's voice. Max's heart stopped.

"And what the hell are you doing here?!" The man standing in the doorway of her little hospital room was none other than Logan Cale. Max didn't know whether or not to breathe a sigh of relief or not. She opted for the former; she was just too damn tired for the latter.

"I'm her fiancé, I believe you're the one who called me?" Asked Logan, sticking out his hand in a peace offering. The doctor just stared at it like he didn't know what to do with it. After a moment Logan awkwardly put it down at his side.

"You weren't supposed to come for another hour." Said the doctor, rather stupidly.

Logan ignored the comment. "Is there any serious damage?"

"She was shot." The doctor said sarcastically.

"Well, I mean how bad is it?"

"The bullet missed the Femur. It's mostly just severe muscle damage from the bullet, which we managed to remove. She did lose a lot of blood-"

"What is your name?" Asked Max out of the blue. She was clearly only partially aware of the unease between them and she clearly didn't care.

"John Dipallow." It was Logan who answered. Max just sort of looked at him like he was crazy. "We went to Yale together."

"That's always your excuse." She mumbled as she threw the covers off herself and stuck her wobbly feet on the ground. Her right leg, the one that had been shot, went out from under her and she almost fell to the ground if it hadn't been Logan who caught her. She stood on her good leg on stared up at him. She hadn't been this close to him in nearly 5 years. She breathed deep, trying to hold on to his scent. Then she made the mistake of looking into his eyes. They were filled with concern and worry and… love. The second she saw it, it was gone and he turned into a hard-ass and she dropped her eyes to the floor.

Max jumped when he put her hand over his shoulder and put his hand around her waist. "Come on." He mumbled in her ear and started to move her toward the door.

"Wait, you can't do that! She can't just leave!" Logan pulled out something from his jacket pocket and flashed it at the doctor, she had already forgotten his name. How did that happen? She had been so surprised that Logan knew who he was that she completely forgot to get the name he'd said.

"You're not a cop. You're a freelance writer!" Shouted the John, moving to block the door.

"Max is undercover for the FBI. She's been trying to expose some pretty serious shit. So serious that I can probably kill you where you stand and the government will shrug and say that it was for the best. To protect her life and the information she is carrying, your life is meaningless compared to this." Growled Logan.

The doc just sort of stood there with a surprised look on his face forcing Logan to push him out of the way and walk right out of the door. As soon as they were limping (or Max was anyways) far enough down the hall, Max let out slight giggle and then she burst out laughing.

"You just told that man that you worked for the FBI." She sniggered leaning forward and putting all of her weight on Logan.

"Mommy!" Jason almost reached them when he stopped and looked at his parents, as if he were trying to burn them together in him memory. Max smiled at him and pulled Logan forward. She released Logan and bent down to her son but winced a little when she bent her leg. "Mommy, I was so scared." He said hugging her tightly.

"I'm sorry baby. Are you okay?" She looked him in the eyes and he nodded. He had Logan's eyes and she realized that she didn't look him in the eyes if she couldn't help it. Suddenly she felt ashamed. She smiled at his reassuring and stood but stumbled. Logan caught her again.

"I got it." She said, pushing him off of her lightly. He dropped his hands but still looked rigid. As soon as she tried to move, though, she regretted it. He noticed and rapped his hand around her waist again. "Come on Jace." And he fell in step next to them.

The trio walked up to OC and Alec, who were standing in the distance. Max guided them toward Alec, slapped him upside the head and walked on.

"Ow!" said Alec, rubbing his head.

"Pussy." Said Max warily.

"Max, you're gonna need to lie down. You've lost a lot of blood." Logan cut in.

"Well, when you find a bed where I won't be found by my crazy ex boyfriend then I'll sleep."

"Well why didn't you do a background check on him before you started dating him?!"

Max stopped forcing Logan and the others to stop with her "Oh, like it was that easy in this economy!"

"What, so you were dating him because he was rich?"

"Well, duh. Why else would I be dating him?" She said sarcastically. "Because I only date rich men." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "I'm a gold-digger." She started to lead him off but he held his ground. She turned and stared him in the eye.

"You know, this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't gotten scared and run off like that." He said seriously

"Oh so it's entirely my fault now?"

"Well, I would think that would be obvious."

Neither of them noticed the rather chubby looking security guard standing in front of them. And OC holding Alec and Jason back a ways.

"I'm gonna need you to keep it down, you're disrupting the other guests." Said Chubs as he crossed his arms and tried to look all official just as John-the-doctor came running out of the room.

They both turned and glared at the security guard. "Do you mind, we're kind of busy here." Said Max pointing between Logan and herself.

"Stop them, don't let them leave!" Yelled the doctor, sprinting down the hall. He skidded to a stop in front of Logan who had walked a short distance toward him. Now Alec was standing next to Max.

Dr. John poked Logan in the chest. "I just got information from a source in the FBI. You're not an agent and SHE is not working for them! You're not allowed to leave this hospital. They've sent an agent to come and arrest you." He said smugly. Alec saw this as a clue to get outta there so he turned to Max.

"You hit me!" He accused.

"I- What?!" Max stammered off guard.

"You hit me!" Alec repeated.

"Listen, now's not the right time. We can talk about this later or I'll be forced to hit you again." She then turned and delivered an uppercut to the security guard who lost conciseness and fell to the floor with a thud. Dr. John looked at Max then at Logan and Alec hit him, knocking him cold. He then turned and scooped his arms under her knees and across her back. And all of them took off running.

"Hey… HEY!!! What they hell are you doing?!" She hit him in the chest and struggled to get out of Alec's arms but he held on tight. "Let me down!"

They hit the street and Logan pointed to a plain black car sitting next to the curb. He pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the doors. Alec ran to the back seat and OC opened the door for him as he threw her in.

"Ow!" Max exclaimed more out of spite than pain.

Original Cindy guided Jason in after his mother and followed suit. Logan headed for the driver's seat and Alec threw himself into the passenger side.

The car roared to life and it peeled out onto and down the street.

* * *

"Sir. We got a tip that she was at a hospital."

Darien rubbed his temples. "Was?"

"Well, um, sir, she's gone."

He was having déjà vu. "So, she got away, again." It wasn't a question and his assisstant figited.

"Yes sir."

"Find her."

* * *

"Where are we going?" Max asked after about 10 minutes for driving.

"I don't know. I only planned for getting you out of the hospital." Logan replied.

"How did you know I was there anyways?" She flinched as they hit a pot hole, the mophine was wearing off and her leg was killing her. "Turn left here."

"What, why?"

"I have an idea, just turn left before you miss it!"

"Care to fill me in?"

"Not really. Left here, then a right."

"Max-"

"Now merge onto the freeway and just keep going."

"Why are we going to the airport?"

"We are going to buy plane tickets."

A confused silence followed her statement until Alec injected, "Max, he's going to know you bought the tickets and where you're going."

"I said we're going to buy plane tickets, not we're taking a plane somewhere. Get off here." She said, annoyed.

"So, are you saying we are going to drive to Seattle?"

"In a way." She said with a smirk but when they tried to get her to say more she just kept her mouth shut. When they reacted the airport Max instructed Alec to run in and buy five tickets so where ever in Canada while they returned the rental car. They all met up in front of the terminals, outside the airport.

"Okay, now what?" Asked Logan, looking at Max who in turn looked at Alec.

"Subway?" He asked and she just nodded. Logan walked to her side and put his arm around her waist, expecting her to put her arm over his shoulders for support. Instead she removed his hand and put her arm in the crook of his arm. It was awkward but they made it work as they walked down the street.

_A/N: Okay, so its only like 100 words longer than the last one. I tried, but failed, sry._

_Hope you enjoyed it and review be nice. They always make my day :D_


	16. A little R&R

_A/N: Just a heads up, I never know what the next chapter will hold. I make everything up, I just know how it's going to end so I make this promise to you: I will always finish my fan __fics__… they just might take a little while XD. So, again, I'm very sorry I take so long to update but if I didn't, the chapters would (in my opinion) suck. Thx for sticking with me, you guys/gals rock!!!_

_PS. Nothings mine… except the plot, that's mine… I think…_

They drove for hours, the only sound coming from Jason playing with his toy in the back seat and Original Cindy encouraging him. Max sat in the front passenger seat and stared out the window at the scenery flying by. Alec was driving and Logan was sitting next to Jason behind Alec.

At one point they bought electrical tape and Max fixed the license plate. She changed the F to a P and the C or an O. It looked fine at a glance but upon closer inspection, an obvious forgery.

"Well, let's just hope that no one stares at our ass and we'll be fine." Alec said with a smirk. They all filed back into the car and headed off.

As night fell, Jason started to fall asleep in Cindy's lap so she suggested they pull over.

"I have enough cash for a motel." Alec said as he pulled off the freeway. He spotted what looked like the cheapest one (it vaguely resembled the No Tell Motel back in Seattle) and pulled into the parking lot. "This is as good as any."

No one said anything as Max and Alec got out of the car. "We'll get the room's," Max said to no one in particular. They both walked into the scrappy looking reception room and Max instantly had half a mind to leave and find a nicer hotel. "That life of luxury is starting to get to me, this place looks like crap." she said with a grin to Alec.

"This place _is_ crap… "He laughed and rang the bell on the counter.

A short round man came out. He had scruffy mustache and a Trump-like hairstyle gone terribly wrong. "How can I help you?" he asked in a raspy voice. His nametag read: Eugene.

"We'd like four rooms-" Alec started.

"We only have three rooms available. Two two queen beds and one with a king."

"Convenient." Muttered Max under her breath.

Alec heard and he pulled her aside. "This might be better, he'd probably be looking for four rooms."

"Well, as long as you don't mind sharing a room with Logan…" Max said, giving him a look.

"We'll figure that out later." Alec replied with a slight wave of his hand. He turned back to the man. "We'll take them"

"Wonderful." Eugene smiled and they noticed that half his teeth were missing. Max glared at Alec.

Max and Logan walked into their motel room. Max sat on one of the beds and Logan put the only duffle bag he brought on the other.

"I cannot believe he would do that." Said Max, crossing her arms across her chest.

"What, tricking us into sharing a room so he could have a room all to his self?" Logan replied, trying to sound innocent.

"Oh, you make it sound like I should have seen it coming." Max retaliated.

"Well, why didn't you? You've known the man longer."

Max turned away and sighed. "I don't want to do this right now, let's just drop it."

Logan paused in his unpacking. "Since when do you give up?" Max glared at him. "What I mean to say is, you usually don't relent when in an argument. Unless it involves running away." He added in an undertone.

"Okay, you know what? You can kiss my ass. I don't want this to turn into a screaming match because our kid is in the next room and I can bet you, these walls are paper thin. The kid's going to need enough therapy for having me as a mother, not to mention the situation I put him in, do you really want him to hear us fighting at a time like this? Fine, come on. Gimme you best shot. Rip me to pieces, I dare you." Logan just started at her. "You know what changed? I had a kid. I would do anything for him and-" she held up her hands and took a deep breath. Then she said calmly, "Forget it; I'm going for a walk. I'll be back in a little bit." Logan watched her as she got up and left the room. He stared at the door for a while and then went back to unpacking.

Max came back in a moment later.

"How's your leg?" Logan asked.

"Do you even care?" Max asked bitterly.

"Would I have asked if I didn't?" Logan countered. Max finally relented.

"It hurts like fu-" she carried out the syllable longer than it was meant to be as she glanced at the wall toward Jason's room. "Fudge." She said finally. "I'm going to bed."

"You didn't seem to care about swearing when he's in the room but when he's not, you don't?" Max wanted to wipe that grin off his face.

"I was in pain, forgive me." She said sarcastically.

"You don't want anything to eat?"

"Nah, I'm not hungry." She lay down on top of the sheets with her head on the pillows.

"Yea, me neither."Logan said, pulling out a book and laying on his bed. He opened the book but was only pretending to read. He was still mad at her for lying to him but still, he was grateful that she was alright and with him now. He silently thanked Alec for pairing them up in the room, even though he wouldn't admit it right now. He watched her out of the corner of his eye. She was just laying there, staring at the ceiling.

"This is all your fault." Max stated after a while.

"How do you figure?" Logan asked still pretending to read his book.

"You remember when we first hooked up… for the second time, that first Eye's Only mission you sent me on?"

"Yeah, so?" He set the book down.

"This is the consequence of that." She explained what Darien had told her. After, they lay in silence. Max stared away from Logan and stared out the window. Original Cindy (who was bunking with her son next door) switched off the light. Max looked at the clock. It was almost 11.

"I'm sorry." Logan said finally.

Max was startled by what he said. "For what?"

"Pushing you away."

"I- what?" She turned to look at him. "You didn't do anything wrong. I was the one who left." She looked away again. "I was the one who left." She said softly. She switched off her light and Logan followed suit.

They both lay facing the opposite directions in silence until Logan asked, "Why did you really leave?"

"I was scared." Max admitted into the pillow.

"Of what, exactly?" He turned onto his back and looked at her. She didn't move.

"Me… you…" and finally, a whisper drifted toward him, "us."

* * *

The next day they all filed into the car. And this time, when Logan and Max were sitting anywhere of the vasinity of next to each other, they didn't face away. Only Jason noticed the suttle difference between his parents and he allowed himself to hope behond hope. When asked why he was smiling he just replied by making flying noises with his toy.

_A/N: __hehe__ I wrote almost the entire chapter listening to the trailer of Sweeney Todd (__staring__ Johnny __Depp__) look__ it up, it looks amazing :D_

_Oh, and review_

_… You know, I never thought I would turn into one of those review whores (no offense to any one) but I have… weird_


	17. Yes, another evil authors note, im sry!

Okay, lets just cut to the chase, shall we? My bad! This is basically what happened since the last upload:

I hit up load,

School, school, school,

New job,

Work, school, school,

School ends,

Work, work, work,

Not to mention the awesomely cool Xbox 360 I got for Christmas and the new ipod for my Bday.

I log in to read some stories today and POOF! its been nearly two months and I gots no excuses other than, "I've been busy", but lets face it, we both know thats not true and I could have found some time to write the story. "I'm lazy" would be more truthful but thats not really an excuse... well, a good one anyways... so here's my excuse: "I spaced". No I haven't been THAT busy, nothing really life altering/shattering happened, i totally spaced xD. please forgive stands and waits for watever it is you decide to throw

I'm still off so I shall reread the story and start working on it tomorrow and hopefully have it up no later than Monday (but don't hate me if I don't cause I love you people who read my stories, ;)

XOXO

PS (I love how the grammer and puncuation and spelling just kept getting worse as the note went on... wonderful :D)


	18. Going Home

_Disclaimer: Not mine, damnit!

* * *

_

Max stood staring out the window of yet another motel. Yes, they had driven almost all the way back to Seattle, no, it wasn't comfortable. After the 2nd or day the pain in her leg started becoming almost unbearable. By the 3rd (today) everyone started losing all feeling in their backsides and that doesn't include the still visible tension between her and Logan. Granted they had come a long way since he showed up in the study of her ex-boyfriends house but there was still some unease there. She sighed in frustration. They were starting all over, which didn't necessarily have to be a bad thing, but she didn't want the dancing. They were both just testing the water when all she wanted to do was dive right in.

She now started half-limping in front of the window, staring at the ground. She glance over at Jason's sleeping figure in the smaller than normal Queen sized bed.

_I shouldn't have left._ She thought for the hundredth time that night. There was a soft rapping on the window and she turned to see Logan standing outside. He was bundled up but he had a small grin. She looked behind him, at the snow on the ground and at the snow falling. She really didn't like snow; she hadn't since the first Manticore escape.

He gestured for her to come outside and she gave a look. That just made him laugh and gesture again. She sighed again, wavering and he grinned. She finally broke and grabbed her coat off of the dresser.

"What are you doing?" Max asked, slightly annoyed but still wearing a grin, as soon as she was outside with the door securely closed behind her.

"Enjoying the scenery." He replied, looking at her.

She looked out into a nothingness horizon of snow and black. "What scenery? There aren't even any stars out." She said, looking back at him.

"I wasn't talking about that scenery." He stated in all seriousness. She studied him, not really sure what she was looking for. She knew what he was talking about and when she realized he wasn't joking she lowered her eyes and started shuffling her feet. She almost blushed… almost.

Logan was watching her for some reaction be he didn't really find one. She just stared out, toward the highway. Silence followed as they both started out into space. Max glanced back inside to check on Jason and then turned to Logan.

"Not to be a spoil-sport, but what are we going to do when we get back to Seattle?" She asked him. She was scared of the answer but they would be back tomorrow or the next day so she had to bring it up sooner or later.

"What do you mean?" He asked tentatively.

"Well, we very well can't go back to back h-to the apartment, or Cindy's… Maybe Alec's, but that's still a little dangerous. He knows all of those places and if he doesn't, he'll find out."

"Maybe he'll give up." Logan said, though they both knew that wasn't true.

Still, Max replied, "I killed his brother Logan. If our places were reversed I'd have a powerful need for revenge to. I wouldn't go about it the same way, but…"

"Well, we could stay at a hotel."

"He'd look there, and besides, I think they might notice it we loaded all of your computer stuff in the room. They might not be too quiet about it."

Logan was silent, and then he whispered, "We could stay at Joshua's."

Max took a sharp breath in and almost choked on the air. Immediately she thought of him and tears came to her eyes. She blinked them back and looked away. She was afraid of that. She thought of the nightmares, the countless times she was back, standing in his door, yelling out for him only to find him dead and White standing behind his body with a still smoking gun. She had tried to kill him, she really had. All her talk of showing compation and not becoming the monsters the public thought of them went out the window. Now, the solder was gone, and it was Max fighting, not 452. It was her pain and grief and anger delivering the blows. In the end, they had just succeeded in beating the shit out of each other. He limped away with a broken foot, several broken ribs, a gun shot in the arm, and a broken nose (again), among other things while she sank to the floor with a broken arm, ribs, and a couple of fingers and toes, as well as a black eye and cuts and bruises all over. They had both been weak when the fight ended and when White left Max had cradled Joshua's body against her as best she could until Logan showed up. He had entered with his usual greeting but when he walked into the kitchen he just held her and she cried. That was the reason she hadn't slept in over a week, she couldn't stand the nightmares. She didn't really need sleep but after leaving Logan, she had pushed herself to the limit as best she could.

Logan was remembering that day too and when he looked over at her, he saw her eyes shining with sadness. "We'll find another place."

She was silent for a moment, then, "Where?" She asked, almost sounding defeated.

"Somewhere, anywhere, just not there. I'm sorry I brought it up-"

"We were both thinking it Logan, you were just braver ,brought it up. We were both thinking it." She turned to go back inside. "There might not be anywhere else." She said sadly before going inside.

He stood out there a while longer. When he turned he saw Max hugging Jason to her as she went to sleep. He then went to the room he was sharing with Alec and stared at the ceiling. Max, on the other hand, waited a while before opening her eyes and staring out the window while holding Jason. She didn't get any sleep that night and she was perfectly happy with it.

* * *

They got up later than usual the next day and filed into the car. Alec was driving and Max sat in the passenger seat ("because there's more leg room" according to Logan who kept insisting she sit there). They only stopped a few times for food and bathroom breaks and they reached Seattle by nightfall. They reached Joshua's house by 8. Both Alec and Cindy had been surprised when Max had told them where they planned to stay but neither had said a word against it. They car had gone silence when Max had told them and the only thing Alec had said was, "Are you sure?" He saw that she was and he went silence again. 

They rolled up in front of the house and Logan and Max got out of the car. Cindy was taking Jason and staying with a friend but Alec didn't have a plan.

Max looked at him, "You can always stay here, you know."

He shook his head, "There's know way you can get me to go in there." She nodded, understanding exactly what he meant.

She turned and walked with Logan toward the front door as Alec drove off. Just before they reached the stairs Max stopped. She took a deep breath and Logan slipped his hand in with hers. She looked at him. He was going to be her rock, so, hand in hand, they walked up the steps and into the empty house.

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_A/N: Woa-hooo! I did it, aren't you proud? Show your pride by reviewing cause you know you love me. I finish just in time too cause now its off to work, later peeps._


	19. Cleaning

A/N: Hey Peeps. No I haven't died... yet. Sry it took so long to update but school's out so I now have all summer to update. I blame the writers strike. The little man in my head to gives me all my ideas decided that he wanted credit so he refused to write for me unless i give him credit so, it's all his fault ;D.

So heres the next chapter, sorry again it took so long, don't hate me :(

* * *

They walked into the house. The first thing Max noticed was how unchanged everything was. No one had entered the house after the incident but part of her expected, hoped, everything to be different. She thought everything would change. It did change though. Joshua wasn't there to greet them. She wouldn't turn the corner and see him painting Joshua #800. And everything was the same. Nothing was out of place. Bookshelves filled to the brim with books still aligned the walls of the living room. The windows were still pained black from when Joshua painted them after Annie died. Dust had collected due to the years of absence. That was the only noticeable change. Everything was where it was supposed to be.

Max walked into the room. Logan hung back, standing in the doorway, watching her. She brushed her fingers over the books on the top shelf. She turned and saw Joshua standing in front of her with that silly, lovable grin on his face.

"Hey little fella."

And then he was gone. She realized she'd stuck her hand out to touch his face and dropped it to her side. The desk Logan had used after White had shot up his apartment was still sitting in the middle of the room.

Max looked at Logan and saw his grim face studying her's.

He didn't know what to say. They'd been apart for so long, and she'd changed. He was still testing the waters.

"I miss him." She said with a sad smile.

"I know, I do too." He said. He walked over to her and gathered her into his arms. They stood like that, together, for a while. Neither wanted to leave the embrace. Finally Max pulled away and wiped the stray tear from her eye.

With a deep breath she said, "We should get this place cleaned up. Alec said he'd bring your computer stuff over. He'll be here soon." She walked through the house but stopped at the kitchen door. She couldn't bring herself to open it and walk in. She lifted her hand, coming close to making contact with the handle but she let if fall just before.

"I can clean the kitchen." Logan said. He'd been watching her again. She didn't want him to have to do it alone but she didn't think she could do it. So she nodded and walked into the living room to start dusting.

Logan walked into the kitchen slowly. It was a mess. The rest of the house was untouched and so was the kitchen. Only, this was the scene of the crime. This was where Max found Joshua's body, face down, with white holding a smoking gun, standing over him.



Logan started on the glass pieces on the floor and counters. He then moved to clean up the blood off the floor, using the bleach under the counter. Alec came by while he was working, presumably to drop off his computers.

He got up to go help him but heard them talking and waited, listening.

"Are you sure you wanna be here?" Alec asked

Max sighed. "No. But it's the only place I can think where Logan can do his stuff and bring down that asshole without causing to much notice or buying a new place." There was silence. "So Jason's gonna stay with you?"

"Yup, and I called Sketch and told them the wedding was off. Before you ask, Normal won the pool" Max chuckled slightly.

"Are you sure your gonna be okay with Jason? You remember all pills he has to take and what time to give him what?"

"No, Max. I'm completely incompetent-"

"I know. That's why I'm asking." They both laughed.

"How are you and Logan?" At this Logan's ears perked up (A/N or they would if her were a dog but you get the picture ;)

"It's like we've come full circle. We started out testy of each other, then came the trust, now we're back to the testing. I just hope he can trust me again. I hope _I_ can trust me again."

"You will, just give it time."

"One crisis at a time, right?" There was a smile in her voice so Logan decided now would be a good time to jump in. He walked out into the living room and Alec turned towards him.

"Speak of the devil! Hey, pal, we were just talking about you." Alec was holding a monitor and he placed it on the desk.

"Only good things I hope." Logan said, grunting as he lifted a television.

"Do gooder like you, kinda hard not to." Alec said with a smirk. He headed towards the door.

"Well, the kitchen's all clean." Logan said to Max after Alec left.

"Logan… I don't…"

"It's okay," he said with a reassuring smile. He reached up to stroke her cheek but Alec made a noise and yelled, "Car's cleaned out." And Max shied away.

"Thanks for bringing this over Alec." She said, walking over to help him, leaving Logan stroking air. He sighed and started hooking up his equipment, powering it up as he went. The sooner they put this dirt bag away, the sooner he and Max could… well, he figured they'd figure that out when it came… hopefully.

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OKay, so i know its kinda short. I won't wait so long to update again. I didn't want to end it on a cliffhanger

Read, review, don't hate :D

3


	20. Checkmate

_AN: OMG! An update! It's only been... almost a year :/ Sorry guys, no excuses, i just didn't write it. Well, no, thats a lie, i wrote like a hundred different "chapters" for this but non of them seemed... right. Anyways, I liked this one, hope you can forgive me :(_

Disclaimer: not mine!!!

Darien walked into his rented penthouse with a confidence and swagger of a man who always got his way. And he was a man who got his way. Always. He was currently in Seattle. Cold, wet, grimy Seattle. But he was so close to getting what he wanted. Her. Or more precisely her death. He wished he could have gotten to ruin her life a bit more but he'd be happy with her death at the moment. That thought had consumed his brain for the last 5+ years and he could barely wait any longer.

He sat down behind his desk and flipped through some of the meaningless paper on his desk. He didn't look up until he heard the cocking of a gun in front of him.

"Hey honey, I'm home." Max said with the gun trained steadily in between his eyes.

* * *

24 Hours Earlier

"I found him!" Logan said triumphantly. Max walked behind his chair to look at the computer screen. She grunted in agreement and Logan spun around to look at her. He had a huge smile on his face. She gave him her "what?!" look. How he'd missed that. He'd missed everything about her.

The last two weeks have been the best of his life. Alec had brought Jason over and Logan spent a majority of his time (when not tracking Darien) spending it with his son. Max would watch them play together for hours. She always looked happy and lovingly on them as they played but sometimes Logan would catch her from the corner of his eye and he saw something cross her face. He knew she felt guilty and part of him was still immensely angry with her, but their time away had changed him. He understood, he didn't like it, but he understood.

The look on Logan's face now, however, was that of pure and utter triumph. "I'm not going to lie, his system was impressive." He swiveled back to the computer screen. "It would have taken a hell of a lot longer if Dix hadn't helped. There were so many encryptions and dead ends; it was like an endless maze of-"

"Jason will be learning to drive before you get done complimenting him on how well he hides being a grade A dirt bag." Max said with a playful smirk.

"I'm just saying: this guy is good. Well, it's the guy's he hires that are good… but they are very-"

"Good?" Logan blushed and looked down at Max's hand fiddling with the locket he'd given her.

"You still wear it." He said, momentarily distracted.

"Haven't taken it off." She replied softly. Shaking her head, she pointed back to the screen. "Focus!"

"I- We, can get him." Logan said, his smile broadening.

"Are you going to tell me some time this year?"

"Money."

"Of which he has abundance. What about it?"

"This… Here." He pointed to a folder and a document on the computer screne.

"Oh…. OH. That's…. wow. I knew the guy was dirty but- that could work."

"It'll work if I put Eye's Only on it. You'll need to do a little leg work thought."

Their eyes met. "Not a problem." Max said with a smile.

* * *

Present

"You so much as breathe wrong and I will solve all of my current problems by introducing a bullet to you brain." Max said sternly.

"Baby, how do I even know that gun is loaded?" He replied, though he didn't move.

"Take it on faith."

"If I recall correctly, you don't even like guns. You prefer the hands on approach. The animalistic, intimate nature of physical contact when you kill."

"I'm not going to kill you. Well, not if I don't have to. You threatened my family. As much as I hate guns, I hate you more." She pulsed confidence and Darien had no doubt she was speaking the truth. "I hate you."

"Then why haven't you killed me? I can see you want to."

"Because I'm not an animal like you. I'm here to make you a deal. I can make a phone call, you turn yourself into the police or-"

"Or what? You got nothing on me-"

"Or Eye's Only broadcasts all your dirty laundry across the country. He's got your files. You may have a couple of cops and judges in your pocket but I doubt they'd like the publicity. He's got proof of murder, extortion, racketeering, you name it you've stuck your dirty, slimy little hand in it. You had it on your computer the entire time. Now Eyes Only's got all of it and it will be aired for the whole country to see. What do you think? Wanna play Russian roulette with the higher ups? 'Cause I think they'll win." She smirked and threw down a folder. "All the names of all the people you ever hurt... or had killed." He actually looked worried and went silent for a while.

"You killed my brother!" He finally snarled. He slammed his fist on the desk. Max didn't move.

"Your brother put himself in that position. If it hadn't been me it would have been someone else. That's the thing about you people, you always get greedy." She didn't sound like she was mocking him now, she sounded genuine. However, Darien would have none of it.

"But he's dead because of you. And now you have the nerve to point that gun in my face and tell me to sell out or be ruined?" He rose and Max's body tensed, ready to fight. "Do you really think I care about any of that?" He advanced on her and she slowly started backing away. "I knew that gun wasn't even loaded!" He went to strike her. She flipped the gun over, holding the barrel in her palm and smacked him across the face with the butt of it.

"Your right, I hate guns." She said as he lost conciseness. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Logan, "Play it.."

15 min later, water splashed across Darien's face. He woke with a start and duck tape of his mouth. Max had tied him the his office chair and was currently leaning against his desk, positioning the folder on top, in plain view.

"I don't think this relationship is going to work. We should see other people. I hope you have a wonderful time in a nice comfy federal prison. You could have taken the offer, but I'm sure someone will make you their bitch. It's the only protection your gonna get in there." She turned on the television.

"Do not attempt to adjust your set. This is a streaming freedom video. This cable hack cannot be traced, it cannot be bought, and it is the only free voice left in this city. Criminal lawyer Darien Weaver has been-"

Max walked out just as the police arrived and slipped out the side, only to be spotted by Matt Sung, as she saluted him before disappearing.

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_AN: Oh, its done! Unless you think that was unsatisfying. Let me know, I'll be writing the epiloge, I might include some wonderful wonderful ideas :D_


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